Grey areas still exist at the boundaries of vicarious liability, notes Richard Scorer
In JGE v The Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust [2012] EWCA Civ 938, the Court of Appeal upheld a first instance decision making the Catholic Church (or rather its constituent dioceses and orders) vicariously liable for its priests who commit child abuse.
The decision is significant for the Church as it has had a serious problem of child abuse by priests in the last few decades and the compensation claims arising from these cases are coming before the courts. The question for the court was whether the Church is liable to the victim on a no-fault basis irrespective of whether it knew or ought to have known that the priest in question posed a risk to children. The case has been erroneously described in the media as being about whether priests are employees, but in reality it was about the scope of vicarious liability in circumstances where the perpetrator of abuse is “akin to an employee”.
Background
Following the decision of the House of Lords
