Vicarious Liability for Group Companies: the Final Frontier of Vicarious Liability?

This article seeks to explore the pressing unanswered commercial issue: whether or not a parent company can potentially be vicariously liable for its subsidiary's torts. It is currently undecided in English law, however, the theory of vicarious liability as recently expounded by the Supreme Court, as well as the development of new categories of vicarious liability, point towards vicarious liability for legal persons. This article argues that a legal (or natural) person may employ, or be in a relationship 'akin to employment' with, a legal person for the purposes of vicarious liability.