body: In the United States, how egregious does an employee’s actions need to be to override [Respondent superior](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respondeat_superior)/[Vicarious liability](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicarious_liability) and hold the company blameless?
  
  
  A hypothetical example: Bob is a full-time employee of Acme Services, LLC. One of Bob’s responsibilities for Acme’s construction company clients is to verify that equipment rental invoices match delivery records before notifying the client to approve the invoices for payment. For all of the clients except one, Bob follows the procedures properly. For Client C, Bob does no verification and has the invoices paid as presented. Neither Bob nor Acme realize any benefit from this action. Acme conducts periodic audits of its client accounts (selected at random), and eventually the mishandling of Client C’s account is discovered. Bob is fired (his excuse for his actions is that he disagreed with the political views of the owner of Client C). A full audit of Client C’s account shows they have overpaid various vendors.
  
  
  If Client C sues Acme Services for damages, can Acme (or their liability insurance carrier) in turn sue Bob (with a reasonable chance of prevailing)?
  
  
  Can Client C sue Bob directly without also suing Acme?
  
  
  Could Bob or Acme (or both) face any criminal liability?
  
  
  
title: Is a company liable if an employee intentionally ignores company procedures?