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PI Brief Update

More Reasons to Look at the Law: Practical Problems With Vicarious Liability - Gordon Exall, Zenith Chambers

12/04/14. The issue when and how someone (usually an employer) is vicariously liable for acts of others has been considered in three recent cases. Three recent cases give different results.

VICARIOUS LIABILITY FOR A PRISONER WORKING IN PRISON

Cox –v- Ministry of Justice [2014] EWCA Civ 132.  The claimant provided catering services to HM Prison Swansea. Whilst working at the prison she was injured by the negligence of a prisoner carrying out paid work under her supervision. The key issue was whether the prison service were liable for the acts of the prisoner even though there was no typical employment relationship.

THE TEST FOR VICARIOUS LIABILITY

The Court of Appeal confirmed that the law of vicarious liability has moved beyond the confines of a contract of service and that “the test of vicarious liability involved a synthesis of two stages”.

(1) The first stage is to consider the relationship between the wrongdoer and the person or company alleged to be liable.

(2) The Second state is to consider the connection that links that relationship and the act or omission of the wrongdoer.

THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF THE RELATIONSHIP

Image ©iStockphoto.com/BrianAJackson

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All information on this site was believed to be correct by the relevant authors at the time of writing. All content is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No liability is accepted by either the publisher or the author(s) for any errors or omissions (whether negligent or not) that it may contain. 

The opinions expressed in the articles are the authors' own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand. 

Professional advice should always be obtained before applying any information to particular circumstances.

Excerpts from judgments and statutes are Crown copyright. Any Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under the Open Government Licence.