Laws vary from state to state, but in states that recognize a claim for negligent entrustment of a motor vehicle, the plaintiff generally must show that:

• the owner of the vehicle entrusted the vehicle to another person;

• the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was an unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless driver;

• at the time of the entrustment, the owner of the motor vehicle knew or should have known that the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was an unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless driver;

• the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was negligent on the occasion in question; and

• the negligence of the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted proximately caused the accident.

Even the lack of a required legal license does not establish incompetence or recklessness. Whether a driver has a license does not determine whether a driver is in fact incompetent. Some incompetent drivers are licensed, and some competent drivers are unlicensed.

If a state’s statutes require an operator of a given motor vehicle to be legally licensed to operate it, then permitting the driver to operate it without a legal license may constitute negligence per se.

Although state laws require licensing to operate some motor vehicles (automobiles), they often do not require licensing to operate other motor vehicles (forklifts). In the absence of a licensing requirement, the plaintiff must show the defendant knew or should have known the operator of the motor vehicle was incompetent or reckless, not that he was uncertified or lacked formal training to operate the motor vehicle.

In Rhode Island, as in other states that recognize negligent entrustment of a motor vehicle, a plaintiff must demonstrate several elements to establish a claim. These include proving that the vehicle owner entrusted the vehicle to another person, and that the person was unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless. Additionally, it must be shown that the owner knew or should have known about the driver's inability to operate the vehicle safely at the time of entrustment. The driver must have been negligent at the time of the accident, and this negligence must have been the proximate cause of the accident. In Rhode Island, simply lacking a legal license does not automatically prove incompetence or recklessness. Licensing is required for operating certain motor vehicles like automobiles, but not for others such as forklifts. In cases where there is no licensing requirement, the plaintiff must prove that the owner knew or should have known of the driver's incompetence or recklessness. Permitting an unlicensed driver to operate a vehicle when a license is required may be considered negligence per se under Rhode Island law.