The issue before the District Court was whether a viable claim had been asserted against the Hobby Lobby store manager in this slip-and-fall case. The District Court noted that an individual is not personally liable for negligence when acting as an agent or employee for a corporation in the absence of an independent duty to the injured party separate and “apart from the employer’s duty.” Slip op. at 6. The District Court rejected the plaintiff’s strained effort to demonstrate such a duty. Id. at 6-15. But it found that affording the plaintiff a chance to amend would not be futile and set a deadline by which she could attempt to amend. Id. at 15-17.
