Vicarious Liability - Intentional

Vicarious Liability: Employer being responsible for wrongful of an employee

Parties to a Claim

The Tortfeasor: the person who actually commits the tort (the employee)

The Claimant: the person who has suffered the harm

The defendant: the person liable for the harm ( the employee

Essential Elements of Vicarious Liability

Tortfeasor commits a tortious act (can be intentional or unintentional)

They are an employee

They were acting in the course of employment

Step 1 - Establish the tortious act

It must be a established whether or not the act was intentional or not as it shows which approach we use

 \n Step 2 - was T an employee?

Is their a relationship akin to employment?

we must consider the 5 criteria from the Christian brothers case :

  1. the employer is more likely to have the means to compensate the victim than the employee, and can be expected to be insured against liability
  2. the tort was committed as a result of an activity being taken by the employee on behalf of the employer
  3. the employees activity is likely to be apart of the business activity of the employer
  4. by employing T, D created the risk of them committing the act
  5. there is some degree of control by D over T

Looking to precedent

Cox: where the activity of T is integral to the business and is for the benefit of D , D is liable

Armes: foster parents… cannot be regarded as carrying on an independent business of there own

Barclays: D’s are not liable for independent contractors

Lister: not liable with no close connection

E’s case: the relationship must be akin to employment

Step 3 : was T acting in the course of employment

Was there a close connection between what T was in employed to do, and his wrongful actions?

Mohammed V Morrison: was what functions or “field of activities” had been entrusted by the employer to the employee? and the court must decide whether there was sufficient connection between the position in which he was employed and his wrongful conduct to make it right for the employer to be held liable under the principle of social justice