Mohamud v Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc

The Supreme Court was asked to decide the scope of an employer's vicarious liability for the tortious actions of an employee. The case involved an unprovoked racial assault on a customer by an employee of a petrol station. The issue was whether the employer should be held vicariously liable for the employee's actions. The court held that the employer was vicariously liable because the employee's assault was closely connected with his employment. The court found that the employee's job involved serving customers, and his assault on the customer was a misuse of the position entrusted to him by his employer. The court rejected the argument that the close connection test for vicarious liability should be replaced with a new test based on whether a reasonable observer would consider the employee to be acting in a representative capacity at the time of the tort. The court held that the close connection test was sufficiently flexible and rooted in justice to determine vicarious liability. The court concluded that the employer should be held liable for the employee's actions because it was just to do so under the principle of social justice.

The final orders of the court were that the appeal would be allowed, and the respondent (the employer) would be held vicariously liable for the employee's assault on the claimant (the customer). The claimant's appeal was therefore successful.