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NLJ this week: Volunteers same as employees for vicarious liability purposes

30 June 2023
Issue: 8031 / Categories: Legal News , Personal injury
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Volunteers are akin to employees when it comes to vicarious liability, the Supreme Court held in Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB

Writing in this week’s NLJ, Rebecca Sheriff, partner at Bolt, Burdon Kemp, welcomes the clarity this case will bring when it comes to abuse claims.

The case involved a claim for abuse at the hands of one elder in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The organisation was held not vicariously liable for the abuse in this particular case as the court took the view the abuse was not sufficiently connected to the authority the abuser held over the victim due to their position within the organisation. However, the court did clarify that elders are akin to employees in the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Sheriff writes: ‘Establishing that organisations can be held vicariously liable for people in positions of power but on an unpaid or voluntary basis is an important and welcome development and an undeniable victory for all survivors of abuse who have had a similar experience.’ 
Issue: 8031 / Categories: Legal News , Personal injury
printer mail-details

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NEWS
The landmark Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd—along with Rukhadze v Recovery Partners—redefine fiduciary duties in commercial fraud. Writing in NLJ this week, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley analyses the implications of the rulings
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] has upended assumptions about who may conduct litigation, warn Kevin Latham and Fraser Barnstaple of Kings Chambers in this week's NLJ. But is it as catastrophic as first feared?
Lord Sales has been appointed to become the Deputy President of the Supreme Court after Lord Hodge retires at the end of the year
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are reportedly in the firing line in Chancellor Rachel Reeves upcoming Autumn budget
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