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United Kingdom Leading Case vicarious liability

Various Claimants v Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc

[2020] UKSC 12
JurisdictionUnited Kingdom
CourtUK Supreme Court
Year2020
StatusBinding authority

Summary

An employer is not vicariously liable for an employee's deliberate wrongdoing unless it is closely connected to the field of activities entrusted to the employee.

Key Principle

An employer is not vicariously liable for an employee's deliberate wrongdoing that is not sufficiently connected with the employment; the 'close connection' test requires consideration of the field of activities entrusted to the employee.

Area of Law

tort

Related Cases

Bird v DP (A Pseudonym) (2024) 98 ALJR 486

High Court of Australia held a religious organisation vicariously liable for sexual abuse by a priest, recognising a relationship akin to employment sufficient to ground vicarious liability.

Bryant v Badenoch Integrated Logging Pty Ltd (2023) 278 CLR 99

High Court of Australia held that the peak indebtedness rule does not apply when assessing unfair preferences under s 588FA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

Kozarov v Victoria (2022) 275 CLR 115

An employer owes a duty to take reasonable steps to protect an employee from psychiatric injury caused by vicarious trauma, and may breach that duty by failing to act on obvious warning signs.

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