This document summarizes an upcoming presentation on emerging issues and trends in vicarious liability. It will cover topics like parental liability, motor vehicle liability when using communication devices, professional liability, liability of sports clubs and non-profit organizations. The presentation will define vicarious liability, explore the historical and legal justifications for it, provide an overview of existing trends, and discuss some emerging trends and related legal cases involving these issues.

1. TORTS PRESENTATION Mr. Yogesh Pratap Singh GUIDEDBY Abhishek Tripathy --03 Mayuri --78 Praveen Kumar --41 PresentedBy-: KIIT LAW SCHOOL

2. EMERGING ISSUES AND TRENDS OF VICARIOUS LIABILITY

3. WE HAVE USED DOCTRINAIRE METHODS OF RESEARCH IN OUR PROJECT. PROJECT IS DESCRIPTIVE AND ANALYTICAL IN NATURE . METHODOLOGY

4. CHAPTERIZATION Introduction To Vicarious Liability Definition Of Vicarious Liability Essential Elements To Establish Vicarious Liability Justification Of Vicarious Liability An Overview Of The Existing Trends Some Of The Emerging Trends And Issues Parental Liability Motor Vehicle Liability Use Of Communicational Devices Professional Liability Liability Of Sports Clubs Liability of non-profit organization Conclusion Recommendations Bibliography

5. VICARIOUS LIABILITY Vicarious liability is a form of secondary liability that arises because of the the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate, or, in a broader sense, the responsibility of any third party that has a "right, ability or duty to control" the activities of a violator.

6. Special relation between who is held responsible and who has committed the act. The act should be during the course of employment. ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS TO ESTABLISH VICARIOUS LIABILITY

7. REASON FOR EXISTENCE Historical Reason- Lack of identity for slaves Legal Reason- “Qui Facit Per Alium Facit Per Se” (The act done by me on your behalf is not mine) Public Policy- Respondent Superior REASON FOR EXISTENCE

8. An Overview Of The Existing Trends EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY Employers are vicariously liable for negligent acts or omissions by their employees in the course of employment. For an act to be considered within the course of employment it must either be an authorized act or closely connected to an authorized act.

10. Statutory Violations.

11. Violation of public duties.

13. Mistake of a servant.

14. Willful wrong of the servant.

15. Theft by a servant.

16. Damage to goods bailed.

17. Fraud of the servant

18. Common EmploymentPARTNER’S LIABILITY Partners and the firm is liable for the wrongful acts or torts committed by the partners during the course of business for which they have agreed to be partners as their relation is similar to principal – agent relationship.

19. EMERGING TRENDS EMERGING TRENDS & ISSUES Use of communicational devices. Professional liability. Parental Liability. Motor Vehicle Liability. Liability of Sports Clubs. Liability of Non-Profitable Organization.

20. Use of Communicational Device Application of Negligence Doctrine to our Technological Society The liability of employer creeps in when it can be proved that the injuries sustained by the plaintiff are due to an employee’s use of a communicational device in the course of his/her employment.

21. RELEATED LEGAL PROCEEDINGS In the summer of 2000, an associate of a Virginia law firm who was driving and talking to clients on her cell phone. She collided with a truck and killed a young girl. Her law firm is currently involved in a civil suit brought by the family of the victim which claims that the law firm is vicariously liable for the accident caused by the associate.

22. Related Legal Proceedings In 1999 an investment banking firm paid US $ 500000 to settle a lawsuit launched after one of its broker driving while conducting business affairs on his cell phone struck and killed a motorcyclist. The cell phone was provided by the Firm. Related Legal Proceedings

23. Related Legal Proceedings Related Legal Proceedings In Minnesota, an employer was held not liable when an employee struck another car as she was reaching for her cell phone in response to her daughter's call. In that case, the jury took the position that using the cell phone for her personal work was not part of her job, even though the cell phone was provided by her employer.

24. Difference …. The two case are distinguishable from each other because here the use of the phone was not for business purposes. The decision would have been quite different had the call been from the employer or a client.

25. LIABILITY OF NON-PROFITABLE ORGANIZATION One of the reasons for Vicarious Liability is that the employer has a deeper – pocket. Non-profit organizations should not be held liable because they cannot be attributed a deeper pocket. But, recently in some of the judgments pronounced such organizations have been assigned liability for wrongful acts committed by the employees.

26. Related Legal Proceedings Related Legal Proceedings Bazley v Curry [1999]2 S.C.R. 534 The appellant Foundation, a non‑profit organization, operated two residential care facilities for the treatment of emotionally troubled children. As substitute parent, it practiced “total intervention” in all aspects of the lives of the children it cared for. The Foundation hired C, a pedophile, to work in one of its homes. The Foundation did not know he was a pedophile. After investigating a complaint about C, and verifying that he had abused a child in one of its homes, B, the respondent, sued the Foundation for compensation for the injury he suffered while in its care. The chambers judge found that the organization was vicariously liable and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision.

27. So, the employers are vicariously liable for the acts authorized by the employer and unauthorized acts so connected with authorized acts that they may be regarded as improper modes of doing authorized acts.

28. Jacobi v. Griffiths In this case, Boys and Girls Club, a non-profit organization incorporated under the Societies Act, employed the respondent G as Program Director. Children in the club were sexually abused by the employee at his home and the assaults were not in the due course of employment. So, there was a question as to whether the firm can be held vicariously liable. In the decision it was held that the firm was vicariously Liable because it was only because he was an employee of that firm that he had the opportunity to commit the crime. Related Legal Proceedings

29. Parental Liability Parents are one who have parental rights and responsibilities for the child and include the residential parents and legal custodians. Here the liability is because of the damage your child inflicts on someone else. Your responsibility comes from the parent-child relationship and the expectation of the control over your child. Parental Responsibility laws differ from state to state.

30. ARMS STORAGE LIABILITY SHOPLIFTING INTERNET ACESS AND COMPUTER HACKING SOME COMMON PARENTAL LIABILITIES

31. The California Court of Appeals upheld a verdict against the parents of juvenile computer hackers who accessed the phone company's network in order to make long-distance calls without cost. ( Thrifty-Tel v. Bezenek ) Related Legal Proceedings

33. Three St. Charles, Missouri sixth-graders were caught making a "hit list" and plotting to kill classmates via a sniper attack on the last day of school. ( Cases pending ) Related Legal Proceedings

34. Liability of Sports Club “It’s a man’s game” Players’ testing the boundary between fair and foul play is part and parcel of a game. However, following a recent case (Gravil v. Carroll) in which the Court of Appeal held for the first time that a rugby club was vicariously liable for a tort committed by one of its players, clubs must now ensure that they do not turn a blind eye to such behavior.

36. PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY “MISTAKE OF A LAWYER TAKES A MAN SIX FEET HIGH AND MISTAKE OF A DOCTOR TAKES A MAN SIX FEET LOW.”* PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY

37. VICARIOUS LIABILITY FOR LAWYERS VICARIOUS LIABILITY FOR LAWYERS What if a Lawyer is working for a firm or for a corporate house? Can the Employer organization be held vicariously liable for the tort committed by the employed lawyer? YES!!!

39. Such liability is defended as being direct rather than vicarious.

40. Vicarious Liability for corporations is a justifiable departure from the basic principles because the penalties involve only fines rather than imprisonment and send less of a message of moral condemnation.

42. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down two highly publicized decisions which held that vicarious liability can be imposed on an employer for certain unlawful acts committed by an employee, even when the employer has itself not acted negligently. In essence, the Supreme Court stated that where injuries are sustained as a result of actions performed by an employee in the course of his or her duties, liability may attach to the employer.

43. Motor Vehicle Liability Motor Vehicle Liability Even though they are not at fault, vehicle leasing and rental companies as legal owners of the vehicles can be held fully liable for the damage that is caused by their customers even when these companies have absolutely no control over or say in how their customers use their vehicles.

44. In recent years leasing and renting have become very popular and cost effective methods of acquiring a vehicle. Because lessors and rental companies are the legal owners of vehicles, judgments against them have grown dramatically in recent years as damage awards have increased. The unfairness in the imposition of vicarious liability is most clearly demonstrated in cases involving catastrophic motor vehicle accidents where potential damage awards exceed third party liability limits and where the lessor/renter is seen as having the "deep pocket".

45. Morrison v. Grieg [2007] O.J. No.225 (Ont S.C.J) The judgment was rendered in Ontario, based on its prior law, totaled over $23 million for two catastrophically injured plaintiffs. Yeung v. Au. In British Columbia, this May 2006 decision of the Court of Appeal resulted in a $7.5 million judgment. RELATED LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

46. As a result, the most senior levels of management of auto manufacturers questioned their decision to lease vehicles, which was the impetus for legislative change. In August 2005, the United States Congress passed a highway bill eliminating vicarious liability for lessors and rental companies for personal injury and property damage arising from the negligent use of a leased or rented truck or passenger car. Within the past year, some countries have capped this vicarious liability at $1 million, which is effectively offset by a contractual requirement that lease and rental customers carry at least $1 million in insurance coverage.

47. CONCLUSION Laws that punish a defendant's own act or omission that allows another person to do something unlawful impose direct liability, not vicarious liability, although such laws are sometimes mislabeled. Parents sometimes face criminal liability for allowing their minor children to use guns or automobiles or to skip school. These crimes are examples of direct liability, not vicarious liability, as the statutes explicitly hold the parent liable for the parent's own act or omission that caused the harm, rather than for the child's conduct.

48. So, Vicarious Liability is a good tool for the injured to receive proper compensation without creating an actual burden. Till torts exist it is difficult to remove this liability. Trends in this field are growing and are likely to increase with industrialization and rapid changes in the employer – employee relationships. RECOMMENDATIONS

49. BOOKS REFERRED RatanlalDhirajlal, Law of Torts, 25th Edition ,by Singh G.P. Law of Tort, Pearson Education, 8th Edition, by Cooke, John. Winfield & Jolowicz on Tort, 17th Edition . A Text-book of the law, Sweet & Maxwell, 1937, by Winfield P.H. Cases and materials on law of torts ,2nd edition .by Samuel Geoffy. AUTHORITIES CITED All England Reports [AER]. All India Reports [AIR]. Supreme Court Cases [SCC]. WEBITES VISITED www.ogilvyrenault.com/fr/centreDeResources_1428.htm - 17k www.sylviainsurance.com/pdf/cell-phone-while-driving.pdf en.wikipedia.org/wik/Vicarious_liability - 47k BIBLIOGRAPHY