Vicarious liability: practical jokes

Chell v Tarmac Cement and Lime Ltd [2020] EWHC 2613 (QB)

In a recent appeal, the High Court has provided greater clarity on determining the question of vicarious liability of employers. The issue was whether an employer was vicariously liable for injuries suffered by an external contractor when one of its own employees played a practical joke which went seriously wrong. The court considered whether there was a sufficient connection between the employer-employee relationship and the prank carried out by the employer to give rise to vicarious liability. Also in issue was direct liability on the part of the employer which depended on whether it could reasonably have foreseen the risk of injury to the contractor’s employee as a result of a deliberate act of horseplay, poor discipline or malice.