Vijay Ganapathy rounds up some critical cases on vicarious liability, damages for fear, independent contractors & causation
- Outlines important caselaw at the frontiers of vicarious liability regarding employees, independent contractors, damages for fear alone, causation and novus actus interveniens.
Recently the courts have had to grapple with a variety of issues. Starting with vicarious liability, the Court of Appeal ruling in Barclays Bank plc v Various Claimants [2018] EWCA Civ 1670 further confirms the extent to which this doctrine has now been extended. The relevant test for determining whether a defendant is vicariously liable requires consideration of the following.
- Was the relationship between the wrongdoer and defendant ‘akin to employment’?
- If it was, was the wrongdoer’s act ‘closely connected’ with this employment?
The last couple of decades have seen the courts significantly broadening the range of scenarios in which both the above limbs could be applied. Therefore, in JGE v Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan [2012] EWCA Civ 938, the defendant was found liable for the abuse committed by a priest even though he was not
