Dear All,

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has today handed down an interesting decision on the scope of vicarious liability: Cox v Ministry of Justice.  This decision follows on from the leading decisions of the United Kingdom Supreme Court in CCWS and the Court of Appeal in JGE.  It applies, and examines the scope of the new “akin to employment” category of vicarious liability, which those cases introduced to English law.

The case concerns the injuries sustained by the catering manager at HM Prison Swansea.  The Claimant was injured in an accident caused by the negligence of a prisoner carrying out paid work (in this case moving recently delivered food supplies) under her supervision.

The Court of Appeal held that vicarious liability was present for the prisoner’s tort.  In the context of the work carried out by the prisoners the relationship was akin to employment.  They, quite rightly, considered that to focus on the voluntariness of the relationship was an error. 

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2014/132.html

Phillip Morgan

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