''Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd''
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UKHL 22is an English tort law">001
UKHL 22is an English tort law case, creating a new precedent for finding where an employer is vicarious liability, vicariously liable for the torts of their employees. Prior to this decision, it had been found that sexual abuse by employees of others could not be seen as in the course of their employment, precluding recovery from the employer. The majority of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
however overruled the
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
, and these earlier decisions, establishing that the "relative closeness" connecting the tort and the nature of an individual's employment established liability.
Facts
A boarding house (Axeholme House) for Wilsic Hall School, in
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
was opened in 1979; the principal students to live there having behavioural and emotional difficulties. The claimants in the instant case had resided there between the years 1979 to 1982, being aged 12 to 15 during this time, under the care of a warden, who was in charge of maintaining discipline and the running of the house. The warden lived at the house also, with his disabled wife, and together they were the only two members of
staff in the house.
[ 001UKHL 22, at 4] His duties were ensuring order, in making sure the children went to bed, went to school, engaged in evening activities, and supervising other staff.
[ It had been alleged by some of the boys that the warden had ]sexually abused
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...
them, including inappropriate advances and taking trips alone with them. A criminal investigation took place some ten years later, resulting in the warden being sentenced to seven years imprisonment; following this, the victims brought an action for personal injury against the employers, alleging they were vicariously liable.
Judgment
'' T v North Yorkshire CC'', decided just two years earlier by the Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
, had found that a headmaster's sexual abuse of a child on a field trip was not within the scope of his employment, a previous criterion by which an employer could be found vicariously liable. This was the view taken prior to the House of Lords appeal, but was reversed, with Lord Steyn
Johan van Zyl Steyn, Baron Steyn, PC (15 August 1932 – 28 November 2017) was a South African-British judge, until September 2005 a Law Lord. He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
Early life and education
Steyn was born in Stellen ...
making the leading judgment. Here, he cited a recent Canadian case, which had imposed liability for intentional torts, creating a new test of 'close connection', rather than using previous formulations:
This decision is significant in the Lords' assessment of the Salmond test for vicarious liability as inadequate. The previous test had been framed as follows:
The Lords' new assessment was summarised as such:
This new test of close connection has been described as 'fairer', and of greater use to claimants. Lord Clyde stated three principles in his judgment which he felt should be considered:
:* in considering the scope of the employment, a broad approach should be adopted;
:* while consideration of the time and place at which the acts occurred will always be relevant, they may not be conclusive; and
:* while the employment enables the employee to be present at a particular time and place, the opportunity of being present at particular premises whereby the employee has been able to perform the act in question does not mean that the act is necessarily within the scope of the employment.
Of importance is that the employment status of an individual cannot merely have provided the employee with an opportunity to commit a tort. There must be a connection between the duties of an employee and the tort committed, as restated in the subsequent case of ''Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd v Salaam
''Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd v Salaam'' [2002UKHL 48is an English vicarious liability case, concerning also breach of trust and dishonest assistance.
Facts
Salaam's solicitors were seeking contribution for damages because of their former client. Mr ...
'', involving deceit and theft.
Developments
Following this expansion of liability, employers have been found liable in subsequent cases for intentional torts of their employees. In ''Mattis v Pollock''003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to:
*003, fictional British 00 Agent
*003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986)
*1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen
* OO3 gauge model railway
*''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...
1 WLR 2158 vicarious liability was found where a bouncer
A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or ...
, intent on revenge, stabbed a patron of the night club
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
at which he worked. ''Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd v Salaam
''Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd v Salaam'' [2002UKHL 48is an English vicarious liability case, concerning also breach of trust and dishonest assistance.
Facts
Salaam's solicitors were seeking contribution for damages because of their former client. Mr ...
'' established liability for fraud of employees, where it is outside their duties or authority to make certain representations.
See also
* '' T v North Yorkshire CC''
* Vicarious liability in English law
* English tort law
* ''Bazley v Curry'' [1999] 2 SCR 534
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lister V Hesley Hall Ltd
English tort case law
English vicarious liability case law
House of Lords cases
2001 in case law
2001 in British law