A1.805 Duty of care of employees and directorsIn general terms, an employer is vicariously liable for the acts of its employees. Accordingly, when claimants consider pursuing claims against a professional, the usual course of action would be to pursue the professional's firm or company, as in most cases the firm or company will have the benefit of professional indemnity insurance and pursuing an employee would be an unnecessary risk.There may be exceptional cases where the claim being pursued is not in fact covered by the employer's professional indemnity insurance and/or the employer is not vicariously liable. The main circumstances where this may arise will be if the advice given by the employee was deemed not to have been given in the course of his employment, eg where there has been fraud on the part of the employee. This was considered in one of the Barings Bank cases arising
In general terms, an employer is vicariously liable for the acts of its employees. Accordingly, when claimants consider pursuing claims against a professional, the usual course of action would be to pursue the professional's firm or company, as in most cases the firm or company will have the benefit of professional indemnity insurance and pursuing an employee would be an unnecessary risk.
There may be exceptional cases where the claim being pursued is not in fact covered by the employer's professional indemnity insurance and/or the employer is not vicariously liable. The main circumstances where this may arise will be if the advice given by the employee was deemed not to have been given in the course of his employment, eg where there has been fraud on the part of the employee. This was considered in one of the Barings Bank cases arising
**Free trials are only available to individuals based in the UK. We may terminate this trial at any time or decide not to give a trial, for any reason.