Vicarious liability: placing the blame

• 2017 saw a dramatic swing in cases concerning vicarious liability, where employers were held accountable for the failings of their employees.

Our understanding of how vicarious liability applies to claims has been transformed through the key decisions of the last two years. In 2016 the Supreme Court held that vicarious liability applied to the negligent actions of a prisoner working in prison kitchen (Cox v MoJ [2016] UKSC 10) and to the actions of an employee who viciously assaulted a customer (Mohamud v Morrison Supermarkets [2016] UKSC 11). There was much discussion following these decisions about whether the doctrine was still ‘on the move,’ and indeed it was. However, few could have predicted that the development of the doctrine could have continued on such a steep incline in 2017. Against this background it is important to understand the key decisions made and the implications.

2017 decisions

In July 2017, the High Court held