VICARIOUS LIABILITIES OF MASTER FOR SERVANT

[Olajire Deborah]

VICARIOUS LIABILITIES OF MASTER FOR SERVANT

Let me explain this topic by giving a common example: Mr. John is the owner of a private car which is been driven by James, his driver. On the way to pick Mr. John at the office, James hits another car, damaging it, or hits a pedestrian on the way who sustains grievous injuries or death. In this instance, Mr. John would be held liable for the acts of his driver, because he is the employer. If the victim is to sue for damages, he will have to sue Mr. John for the damage caused by James.

In another common example, XYZ Bank Ltd is the employer of Alice as cashier. In the lawful course of her employment, Alice collects deposits from Jane, a customer but fraudulently converts the money to her own use rather than hand them over to the bank. In this instance, if Jane needs her money, she is entitled to demand same from XYZ Bank Ltd which under the law is vicariously liable for the fraud of the staff.
Again, if Mr. A appoints an estate agent to act for him as his property manager. And in the ordinary course of his activities, the estate agent collects rents from the tenants but fails to deliver this to Mr. A, or collects rents from a number of people but fails to give them the accommodation and absconds, Mr. A will be held vicariously liable for the acts of his agent.

From the above examples, you will discover that the general meaning of vicarious liability is that a master will be held primarily liable for the wrongful acts of his servant. Master here means employer while servant also means employee, as we shall see below.

However, there are basic principles guiding the application of this rule. And a victim is advised to clearly take note of these principles before suing for vicarious liability. These principles are that: one, the wrongful act must have been carried out by someone who is a servant of the defendant, and, two, that it must have been carried out in the ordinary course of his employment. Let me now take them one by one.

In rounding up, let me list common instances of vicarious liability in our day-to-day lives, as follows:

1. Communication Outfits/Their Staff: where for instance, the staff of a GSM company unlawfully blocks/sells/transfers a customer’s line without any justification or reveals a customer’s call details to another person without authorization or lawful justification, the customer may sue the company for the vicarious liability of the servant.

2. News Media/Reporters: where a reporter publishes a defamatory statement against another person, or a radio/TV station broadcasts falsehood against another, then the media house will be vicariously liable for the defamation of character once it is shown that the publication was done in the course of the master’s business.

3. Banks/Their Staff: for all fraud and illegalities perpetrated by staff members in the course of their employment. This includes unlawfully dishonoring a customer’s cheque or disclosing a customer’s account status to third parties without lawful authority, or fraudulently converting a customer’s deposits.

4. Hospitals and doctors, nurses, consultants, and every other worker in the employment of the hospital.

5. Car owners and their drivers.
6. Companies and their employees.
7. Private employers and their employees.

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