Vicarious liability

A form of liability by which the defendant is held liable for a tort committed by a third party

The purpose of this is to ensure the tort victim is able to receive compensation for damages or injury suffered, this is because an employer will most likely be in a better financial situation than the employee. The Claimant can also sue the employee who’s jointly liable with the emplyer for their actions but the employer is more likely to have the means to pay. The employer is entitled to recover any compensation paid to the claimant from the employee e.g through deduction of wages.

Two stage test

  • relationship between D and the tortfeasor must be of employment or ‘akin to’ employment

  • there must be a close tie between the wrongful conduct and act that the tortfeasor was allowed to do so its fairly reguarded

(there must be a relationship of employment and a close connection between acts)

The relationship between the defendant and the tortfeasor must be one which makes it acceptable for the law to make D pay for the fault of another

An employer is only liable for torts committed by employees, whereas if someone is injured because of an independent contractor, they are required to sue the contractor.

Employee

  • someone employed with a contract of employment

  • contract of service e.g a teacher

  • if an employee commits the tort, employer can be sued by victim

Independent contractor

  • self employed worker

  • contract for service e.g plumber

  • if an independent contractor commits a tort, they are the only person who can sued.

Case for employee & independent contractor : Barclays bank vs Various Claimants - supreme court confirmed vicarious liability doesn’t apply to independent contractors

Employee status test - an employee is told what to do and how to do it, and independent contractor is only told what to do

Integration test - a worker will be an employee if his work is fully integrated into the business, (stevenson, jordan, harrison v macdonald). If a person’s work is only accessory to the business, they are not an employee