The directors of a company did not become personally liable for damages, only because they had failed to insure the company for liability for personal injuries suffered as a result of the company’s activities, even though they may be criminally liable. (Sir John Megaw dissenting)
Sir John Megaw said: ‘With great respect, I find it difficult to believe that the parliamentary draftsman would have intended to make provision that there should be no civil right or remedy by using the formula of section 1 of the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, ‘shall insure’, followed by section 5 ‘shall be guilty of an offence’; as contrasted with the formula of declaring an act or omission to be unlawful and then separately providing a criminal penalty for the breach.’
Judges:
Russell and Stuart-Smith LJJ, Sir John Megaw
Citations:
Independent 06-Sep-1994, Times 11-Aug-1994, [1995] QB 123
Statutes:
Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 1(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Campbell v Peter Gordon Joiners Ltd and Forsyth, The Liquidator Thereof and Gordon SCS 3-Feb-2015
(Extra Division – Inner House) The pursuer was injured working as an apprentice for a company operated by its sole director, the second defender. Though he was an apprentice joiner, the company’s insurance excluded (in breach of the 1969 Act) injury . .
Cited – Campbell v Gordon SC 6-Jul-2016
The employee was injured at work, but in a way excluded from the employers insurance cover. He now sought to make the sole company director liable, hoping in term to take action against the director’s insurance brokers for negligence, the director . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Company, Personal Injury
Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.88776