Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd

Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd
Court	House of Lords
Decided	3 May 2001
Citation	[2001] UKHL 22
Keywords
Vicarious liability, course of employment, close connection

Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd [2001] UKHL 22 is an English tort law case, creating a new precedent for finding where an employer is vicariously liable for the torts of their employees. Prior to this decision, it had been found that sexual abuse by employees of others could not be seen as in the course of their employment, precluding recovery from the employer.^[1] The majority of the House of Lords however overruled the Court of Appeal, and these earlier decisions, establishing that the "relative closeness" connecting the tort and the nature of an individual's employment established liability.^[2]