Question: What is “imputed knowledge”?
Answer: Knowledge of agent is imputed to principle.
Imputed knowledge is a tenet of agency law, and is based upon an underlying legal fiction of agency—the identity of principal and agent when the agent is engaged in the principal’s business. Imputed knowledge is premised upon another facet of agency law—the doctrine of respondeat superior. In certain circumstances, respondeat superior confers liability upon an employer for the wrongful acts of his employee which are committed within the scope of employment. Under the rule of imputed knowledge, the law imputes the agent’s knowledge to the principal, even if the principal does not actually know what the agent knows. More specifically, knowledge of material facts acquired by an agent in the course of his employment, and within the scope of his authority, is the knowledge of the principal, and where no actual knowledge of the principal is shown, the rule will be given the effect on the theory of constructive knowledge, resting on the legal principle that it is the duty of the agent to disclose to his principal all material facts coming to his knowledge, and upon the presumption that he has discharged that duty. However, when an agent, acting within the scope of employment, commits an independent tort for his own benefit, the principal must have some knowledge or reason to know of the agent’s conduct before liability will attach pursuant to the imputed knowledge doctrine.