Biffa Waste Services Ltd and another v Maschinenfabrik Ernst Hese GmbH and others – WLR Daily

Posted November 14th, 2008 in law reports, negligence, vicarious liability by sally

Biffa Waste Services Ltd and another v Maschinenfabrik Ernst Hese GmbH and others [2008] EWCA Civ 1238; [2008] WLR (D) 353

“The principle that a person who employed an independent contractor would be liable for the negligence of that independent contractor where the independent contractor was engaged to carry out extra-hazardous or dangerous operations was binding on the Court of Appeal but its application should be kept as narrow as possible. It should be applied only to activities that were exceptionally dangerous whatever precautions were taken. Welding, the activity in the instant case, was not exceptionally dangerous provided reasonable precautions were taken, so the principle did not apply.”

WLR Daily, 13th November 2008

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

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