Vicarious Liability Flashcards
What is vicarious liability? When does it mostly arise?
- It is the term used to explain the liability of one person for the tort of another
- Mostly arises in employment when an employer might be liable for the torts of their employees
Someone is only liable under vicarious liability if what two questions are satisfied?
- Was the tortfeasor an employee of the defendant?
- Was what they did committed in the course of their employment?
What three things are needed of the tortfeasor for their employer to be liable?
- They must be an employee of the defendant
- They must be acting in the course of their employment
- They must have committed a tort
What three tests have the court established to determine if a person is an employee or not?
- Control test
- Organisation test
- Economic Reality test
In what case was the control test established?
- Yewen v Noakes (1880)
What does the control test consider? Is it old? What concept does it use?
- Considers whether the employer has the power to control the nature of work done and how it is done
- Old test
- Uses the concept of master-servant relationships
Why was the man in Yewen v Noakes (1880) held not to be an employee?
- The owner of the building had no right to control the man’s work and the manner in which it was done
What was identified in Short v JW Henderson Ltd (1946)? What did these include (4)?
- Key features that would show that the master had control over the defendant
- The power to select the servant
- The right to control the method of working
- The right to suspend and dismiss
- The payment of wages
Is the control test easy to apply? In what cases is it still useful?
- It is virtually impossible to apply in modern circumstances
- Still useful in cases such as those of borrowed workers
What case established the organisation test?
- Stevenson, Jordan & Harrison Ltd v MacDonald & Evans (1952)
What does the organisation test rely on?
- A distinction between a contract of service and a contract for service
What is the basis of the organisation test?
- To ask who is entitled to tell the employee the way in which they are to do their work. It is not enough that the task being performed should be under their control; they must control the method of performing it
According to the organisation test, what are three examples of an employee? What are three examples of a non-employee?
- Employee = master of a ship, chauffeur, reporter on the staff of a newspaper
- Non employee = pilot bringing a ship into port, taxi driver, freelance writer
The organisation test can work well in some circumstances, but there are still defects. Give an example
- Part-time examiners may be classed as employees for tax purposes, but it is unlikely that the exam board would be happy to pay redundancy when their services are no longer needed
In what case was the economic reality test developed?
- Ready Mixed Concrete v Minister of Pensions (1968)
What happened in Ready Mixed Concrete v Minister of Pensions (1968)? What was held?
- Involved lorry drivers who owned their own trucks but painted them with the company’s logo and wore their uniform
- HELD - not employees, but independent contractors
For what three reasons were the lorry drivers in Ready Mixed Concrete v Minister of Pensions (1968) held to not be employees?
- They owned and maintained the lorries themselves
- They had the option of hiring replacement drivers
- They weren’t guaranteed an income
What three things does the Economic Reality test require for a person to be considered an employee?
- The person agrees to provide work or skill for the employer in return for payment
- They agree expressly or by implication to be the subject of the employer’s control
- The other terms of the contract are consistent with the existence of a contract of service
Under the Economic Reality Test, what two things suggest that the person(s) are contractors?
- A requirement that the person pays for their own tools and equipment AND
- That they themselves have the right to hire someone else to do their job. Usually employment contracts state specifically that the person named on the contract has to do the work or get sick pay if they can’t
What happened in Hall v Lorimer (1992)?
- Claimant tried to say that he was an independent contractor because he didn’t want to pay a higher rate of tax that he would have had to pay as an employee
- CoA overturned a previous decision that he was freelance
In Hall v Lorimer (1992), what four things did the CoA say made it more likely that the man in question was an employee? What did the court add?
- He didn’t send his own invoices
- He didn’t have lots of different clients
- He didn’t use his own kit
- He didn’t have helpers or managerial responsibilities
- Court added that just because a person performs a highly skilled function does not make them a contractor, and the contract is not decisive. The courts look at all factors concerned
What happened in Ferguson v Dawson (1976)? What was held? What did the court say?
- Builder injured in industrial accident tried to sue his employer
- HELD - he was an employee as his work was provided by them, he didn’t go out looking for it
- Court said that calling someone self-employed wasn’t enough if the circumstances suggested otherwise (type of work done and degree of control exercised)
What happened in JGE v Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust (2012)? What was the issue? What was held?
- A priest molested children
- Issue was whether or not his immediate superior, the Bishop, was an employer
- HELD - yes. Bishop vicariously liable as there was enough ‘control’ over the priest
What is the obvious advantage to companies of using agency workers?
- Wages aside, they aren’t as big of a responsibility as employees in terms of sick pay etc
What happened in Hawley v Luminar Leisure (2006)? What was held? What did the court note?
- Luminar Leisure used a bouncer from another agency
- Bouncer injured claimant, causing brain damage
- The bouncer’s agency went bust so the claimant was trying to establish that Luminar employed the bouncer
- HELD - yes. Luminar = employer as there was control over what the bouncer did and Luminar would have been in a position to prevent the tort
Give a case in vicarious liability that concerned casual workers
- Carmichael v National Power (2001)
What happened in Carmichael v National Power (2001)? What was held? Why?
- Claimants worked as tour guides at a power station on a ‘casual basis’
- HELD - not employees
- They turned up for work as and when they were needed, they could refuse to work if they didn’t feel like it, and they wouldn’t face disciplinary action (not enough of an obligation)
Give two cases that concerned employees loaned to other companies
- Mersey Docks v Coggins (1947)
- Viasystems v Thermal Transfer (2005)
What happened in Mersey Docks v Coggins (1947)? What was the issue? What was held? What did the court do?
- Claimants loaned the defendants a crane driver who caused an accident due to his negligence
- ISSUE - who employed him?
- HELD - employee of Mersey Docks, as a contract existed saying that he was an employee. They paid his wages and had the power to sack him
- The court laid down a few guidelines for future similar cases
What five guidelines did the court lay down in Mersey Docks v Coggins (1947)?
- The permanent employer will be the employer unless they can show that the person is not their employee
- Who has the immediate right to control the employee’s method of working?
- Identify the act of negligence and then work backwards to find out who was best placed to prevent the act
- Who paid them? Who dismissed them? How long was the loan for?
- How the person is described in the contract is never conclusive - at best it is a statement of intent
What was held in Viasystems v Thermal Transfer (2005)?
- A worker can have more than one employer at the same time, who will be vicariously liable for the employee
Give four cases that concern relationships that are akin to employment
- Various Claimants v Catholic Child Welfare Society (2012)
- Cox v MOJ (2016)
- Various Claimants v Barclays Bank (2017)
- Armes v Nottinghamshire City Council (2017)
What was held in Various Claimants v Catholic Child Welfare Society (2012)? What did the court establish?
- The school was deemed sufficiently in control of the priests for a relationship of employer/employee to exist
- Principles
What four principles were established in Various Claimants v Catholic Child Welfare Society (2012)?
- Who is likely to be in a financial position to compensate the victim
- Was the tortious activity part of the employer’s business activity?
- Has the employer essentially created the risk of the tort happening?
- Was there control of the employee’s activities (when, where, how, uniform)?
What was held in Cox v MOJ (2016)? What judgment did the court refer to?
- Held that MOJ was vicariously liable for the negligence of a prisoner who injured the claimant employee
- Referred to the judgement in Catholic Child Welfare (2012)
Why was the MOJ liable in Cox v MOJ (2016)?
- The prison service was in the position of being able to pay out in claims, but more importantly was best placed to assess the danger that prisoners posed (they created the risk)