Building Law Monthly
Vicarious liability still on the move
The Supreme Court has given two recent decisions which have considerable significance for the law relating to vicarious liability. In Cox v Ministry of Justice [2016] UKSC 10, [2016] 2 WLR 806 the Supreme Court affirmed that vicarious liability can extend beyond the employer/employee relationship and can encompass analogous relationships. In this respect the law of vicarious liability continues to be on the move. In Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc [2016] UKSC 11, [2016] 2 WLR 821 the Supreme Court affirmed that the ‘close connection’ test remains applicable when deciding whether or not an employee has committed a tort in the course of his employment, although it also emphasised that a broad approach should be taken when seeking to identify the functions that the employer has entrusted to the employee, making it more likely that employers will in future be held liable for intentional wrongdoing by an employee which is committed within the field of activities assigned to the employee.