From our private database of 47,500+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Santiago v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.

Arizona Supreme Court
794 P.2d 138 (1990)

Written by Craig Conway, LLM

Facts

William Santiago (plaintiff) was seriously injured when a vehicle driven by Frank Frausto (defendant) collided with his motorcycle. At the time of the incident, Frausto was delivering the Sunday edition of the Arizona Republic newspaper as an independent contractor for Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. (PNI) (defendant). Santiago filed a negligence suit against Frausto and PNI alleging the newspaper company was vicariously liable for Frausto’s actions. Frausto and PNI moved for summary judgment on the vicarious liability claim. The trial court concluded, based on the agreement signed between Frausto and PNI, that Frausto was an independent contractor and granted summary judgment. In making its ruling, the trial court carefully considered the affidavit of Frausto who stated that, despite the contractual agreement stating that he was not a PNI employee, he considered himself to be one and delivered the papers as directed by a supervisor, including placing the paper in a particular spot if requested by a customer. Santiago appealed. The court of appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court. The Arizona Supreme Court granted certiorari to review.

Rule of Law

The rule of law is the black letter law upon which the court rested its decision. To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

Issue

The issue section includes the dispositive legal issue in the case phrased as a question. To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

Holding and Reasoning (Grant, C.J.)

The holding and reasoning section includes:

A "yes" or "no" answer to the question framed in the issue section;
A summary of the majority or plurality opinion, using the CREAC method; and
The procedural disposition (e.g., reversed and remanded, affirmed, etc.).

To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

What to do next…

Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.
You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 964,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.
Unlock this case brief Read our student testimonials
Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.
Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.
Learn about our approach Read more about Quimbee

Here's why 964,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 47,500 briefs, keyed to 1,006 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
AI-generated podcast version of every brief — listen on the go, between classes, or whenever reading isn’t an option. New

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Here's why 964,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
47,500 briefs - keyed to 1,006 casebooks
Uniform format for every case brief
Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
Top-notch customer support