This idea is supported by Lord Toulson who contends that a “simplification” of the doctrine is desirable due to the inherent risk of over-refining the doctrine to a point nearing no return. A serious issue with this argument, however, is that in doing this, the courts have ignored their duty to the public – “to ensure that the law is stated in clear and certain terms, so that we can all know where we stand when we get involved in disputes with other people”. This is because, as Lord Phillips notes, “the close connection test tells one nothing about the nature of the connection”.
In Lister, the obvious benefit to the extension of the doctrine was that acts, such as sexual abuse, would likely fall within the scope of VL. Such a benefit is
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Surely, such a risk is inherent to all employment sectors and not just a specific business. Although Giliker contends that this risk-based liability enhances the principles of fairness and justice, due to the fact that it is more pragmatic to distribute the losses amongst members of the community, it is difficult to conceive how fairness is being upheld as “it is one thing to say that the enterprise should be responsible for the risks it has created; it is quite another to say that it remains responsible when the existence of the risk is entirely coincidental”. Furthermore, a distribution of losses based on an employer’s ability to compensate the victim due to insurance cover, or through loss spreading by means of increased consumer prices, should not be sufficient reasoning to inspire courts to expand the doctrine. The courts ought not to treat this social policy justification as a safety net, which allows them to sit on the fence whilst providing justice to the victim, assuming the employer will not see noticeable losses.
The Introduction of Causal Elements
Although the courts asserted that the CCT was not being amended, it appears that the Courts adopted a modified version of the test. Under Lister, the fact that the employment provided a mere opportunity to commit a tort was insufficient to justify the imposition of VL as this would “be seen to provide the causation of an employee’s tort”, thereby turning
Although the Health and Safety at work etc. Act 1974 provides criminal legislation for employers, there are various key health and safety requirements that identify a duty of care owed to an employee by an employer, that have been set via precedents. This essay aims to identify the key health and safety requirements owed by an employer to an employee, deriving from common law, including the principle of vicarious liability
On the one hand it is evident that terms implied at common law can be ‘implied in law’ or ‘implied in fact’. Terms implied as a matter of fact are said to give effect to unexpressed intentions of the
After reading the entries of both Olsen and Mallaby, I’m finding myself wondering why the employer is being blamed here. Are we not supposed to take charge of our own lives? Making ourselves accountable for our future is the way people were taught as I was growing up. Education, responsibility and accountability were three main words in the vocabulary of many households in my community. Having a place to work was an opportunity. We were not entitled to work for any company. We had to prove ourselves worthy of being employed. Educate ourselves, make responsible choices and continue to be accountable wherever possible is supposed to be what success means.
The exception is when an employer pays the above costs without reimbursement. Heinrich presents 11 concealed accident cost factors with their respective subparts for consideration during the computation of direct and indirect costs (Manuele, 2011). However, the hidden costs exclude fatalities, major permanent injuries and dismemberments and costs emerging from trivial injuries. Even so, Heinrich’s research does not enjoy validation or support from similar studies. The ratios that Heinrich computes focus more on less serious injuries, which presents this as a research limitation. Furthermore, the analysis took place in 1926, which makes the utilization of Heinrich’s ratios invalid considering the massive changes on compensation schemes, work practices, as well as business and industry practices (Manuele, 2011). Therefore, the use of such ratios in the estimation of total accident cost might be
This essay will briefly explain negligence and its elements and will further critically analyse the UK compensation culture and discuss whether it exist, or whether it is a perception created by the media. This essay will further discuss whether the UK laws encourage people to blame and claim and what the UK law has done to prevent an increase in the compensation culture.
Social value of the defendants action is took into consideration in certain cases. If the purpose of the actions took by the defendant is of value to society, abnormal risk is justified. In Watt vs Hertfordshire 1954, a victim was trapped under a vehicle at the scene of a road accident, A heavy duty jack was needed to lift the vehicle but the vehicle used to transport it was unavailable. Whilst holding the jack on place on a vehicle unsuitable for the transportation, a fireman injured his back. The fireman sued his employers for negligence but failed in his actions because the social values of the defendants’ action were valuable as lives were at risk.
There is also the concept of secondary liability. This means that if, for example, an employment agency
A fortiori, the employer may act peremptorily, arbitrarily, or inconsistently, without providing specific protections such as prior warning, fair procedures, objective evaluation, or preferential reassignment." (Guz v. Bechtel National, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 317, 350, 100 Cal. Rptr.2d 352, 8 P.3d 1089.)
Finally, it was argued in Pearce that such a distinction violated a cohabitant’s Article 824 rights but Kennedy LJ was, rightly, very dismissive of such an argument25. It was recognised that had the exemption been widened it would have been difficult to “see where, logically, the widening should end”26. Establishing a criterion to be met before cohabitants could enjoy testimonial immunity would only create more arbitrary and discriminatory lines.
Jose Carcamo et al., Defendants and Appellants in the Supreme Court of California held that tort liability based on negligent hiring and retention is a cause of action distinct from vicarious liability based on respondeat superior. In the case against Jose Carcamo, it was stated he hit a car while driving his truck for his employer, causing Renae Diaz to lose control of her vehicle. The jury awarded Diaz $22.5 million in damages in which Sugar Transport, Carcamo’s employer, was also help liable based on its negligent hiring of Carcamo. Sugar Transport contended that while it is liable for Carcamo’s driving, it should not be held liable for negligent hiring and retention. The court reviewed negligent hiring and retention as theories of liability independent of vicarious liability. The court stated that the liability comes from hiring and retaining an employee who is unfit to conduct his or her duties. Due to the fact that the employer had sufficient enough reason to believe that undue harm could exist with the employment of Carcamo, they were held liable for negligent hiring. Carcamo’s driving history included previous accidents that were relevant to his job assignment. Sugar Transport thus disregarded his past driving record and the danger that could come with his driving for the company. The jury properly considered that evidence when apportioning fault for the
Discrimination in the work, purposely or accidentally, not just harms the workers’ work knowledge, but it exposes the company to a lawsuit for violating the laws that defend races and groups. Discrimination against the smaller groups, based on color, race, ethnicity or other groupings,
-If workers become injured, don’t make a living wage, are pushed into criminal activities through blackmail or a factory owners’ mistreatment, it is seen as the workers fault.
“Liabilities are debts: money you owe. Every business carries some liabilities—for example, ongoing payments to suppliers, rent for your office, compensation to employees, or fees for contractors” (Mancuso, 2014). Added liabilities may result if a business is ravaged by a fire or flood or if the business owner(s) become the victim of a lawsuit—for example, a patron, client or customer decides to sue your company after hurting themselves on company property. It is the intent of this paper to examine the role and responsibility of liability in different types of businesses from sole proprietorships to
Law and economics is an interdisciplinary field that applies economic theory to examine the formation and the impact of tort law and the tort damages. It focuses mainly on deterrence, paying little attention to justice, fairness, or distribution. It is a tool to assess the costs and benefits that UCC was looking as an outcome of setting up a plant in India - Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) - a subsidiary of the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). We need to determine who bears the burden of the injury and if this injury caused by UCC are compensable to what extent. Two important forms of tort law, which can be used to analyze, are Positivistic Economics and the Normative Economics. Positive economics describes how legal rules influence
The principle of vicarious liability is very controversial as it is quite broad, and the fact that personal fault on behalf of the employer is not required means that it is sometimes more difficult to attribute blame on big companies or corporations than individuals. However, there are many aspects of vicarious liability that make it suitable for its use. In nearly every case the employer is in the best position financially to compensate a claimant as they always have the ‘deepest pocket’. The whole purpose of the law of tort is to compensate the victims, the resources in question that enable the employer to have the ‘deepest pocket is provided through insurance.