IMPOSITION OF OBLIGATION TO INSURE ON EMPLOYER EXCLUDES LIABILITY FOR CONTRACTOR’s NEGLIGENCE

Casson v Ostley PJ Ltd, unreported, Queen’s Bench Division, 3 August 2000

In Casson v Ostley PJ Ltd, unreported, Queen’s Bench Division, 3 August 2000, Lord Brennan QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, held that the terms of the contract between an employer and a main contractor imposed on the employer an obligation to insure against damage to the property of the employer due to a fire caused by the negligence of the main contractor or its sub-contractors. This clause was held to be effective to exclude liability for the assumed negligence of the contractor. This was so notwithstanding the fact that there was no express reference to the negligence of the contractor in the clause itself. Furthermore, the clause was held to pass the reasonableness test under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.