Dual vicarious liability

In Sutton and East Surrey Water plc v Monarch Chemicals Ltd and Another [2026] EWHC 1260 (TCC) Mr Adrian Williamson KC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, held that an employee had been seconded for a substantial period of time to a temporary employer such that it was the temporary employer, and not the original employer, who was vicariously liable for any negligence on the part of the employee. This was not, therefore, a case in which dual vicarious liability was found to exist. Given the extent to which the construction industry makes use of secondment arrangements of various kinds, the conclusion of the Deputy Judge is one of some potential significance for the construction industry.