Vicarious liability when an employee commits an intentional wrong

By Donald Dinnie on August 11, 2022 Posted in Insurance

In this judgment the court grappled with the difficult question of imposing vicarious liability on an employer for an employee’s deliberate wrongdoing. The court acknowledged that such situations create special difficulties both in relation to the conceptual basis for liability and public policy justifications underlying the liability. This was a clear case of a deliberately … Continue reading

Liability for independent contractors and the legal fiction of non-delegability

By Donald Dinnie on February 28, 2020 Posted in General

The Western Cape High Court in the December 2019 decision of Holtzhauzen v Cenprop Real Estate and Naheel Investments confirmed the general proposition that a principal is not liable for the negligent conduct of its independent contractor. This was a slip and trip claim where the shopping mall owner had delegated cleaning services to a … Continue reading

Vicarious liability for creating a risk

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on November 5, 2019 Posted in General

The Supreme Court of Appeal has again extended the scope of vicarious liability. A security company was found liable for a murder committed by their site supervisor in an attempt to rob the deceased who was the financial manager at the premises which the security company were required to guard. The court held that placing … Continue reading