''Honeywill and Stein Ltd v Larkin Brothers Ltd''

934 Year 934 ( CMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring and Summer – The Hungarians make an alliance with the Pecheneg ...

1 KB 191 is an

English tort law English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil, rather than criminal law, that usually requi ...

case, establishing that employers may be

vicariously liable Vicarious liability is a form of a strict, secondary liability that arises under the common law doctrine of agency, ''respondeat superior'', the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate or, in a broader sense, the resp ...

for damage done by their independent contractors, where they carry out 'extra-hazardous' activities.

1 KB 191, p. 200 Generally, employers are only vicariously liable for the torts of their employees, and not for those of independent contractors. However, a non-delegable duty may be imposed on an employer where they contract for inherently dangerous activities to be undertaken.

Facts

Honeywill and Stein Ltd, after conducting acoustic work in a cinema owned by Denman Picture Houses, requested permission to have photographs taken of the interior of the cinema.

1 KB 191, p. 195 On the attendance of Larkin Brothers Ltd to take photographs, magnesium powder was ignited in order to create a

flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...

light, to better illuminate the cinema interior. It was argued that such practice was common in photographing the insides of buildings, despite creating intense heat and being hazardous if ignited near fabrics. The photographers were found guilty of negligence in igniting the flash just four foot from a cinema curtain, setting fire to it and causing damage of £261.4s.3d. However, Honeywill and Stein Ltd, under threat of litigation from the cinema company chose to pay this balance in full. The action was therefore for the recovery of this sum, under the pretense that Honeywill and Stein Ltd could not be responsible for the tort of an independent contractor.

1 KB 191, p. 196

Judgment

It had previously been held that employers were not liable for the torts of independent contractors, as they are for their employees.Friedmann, p. 84 Slesser L.J. explained the finding of liability by stating that where an activity is contracted for, which brings with it an inherent danger, this is non-delegable: Langton J followed a similar line of reasoning, stating that there should be two exceptions to employers not being liable for independent contractors; where a special duty is, by statute, imposed on an employer, and where chemicals or substances which are dangerous in themselves are to be used.

References

Bibliography

*{{cite journal, last=Friedmann, first=W, year=1942, title=Liability for Independent Contractors, journal=The Modern Law Review, publisher=Blackwell Publishing, issue=1/2, volume=6 English tort case law English vicarious liability case law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases 1933 in case law 1933 in British law

Facts

Judgment

See also

References

Bibliography