1st Apr 2020 10:45
(Alliance News) - Barclays PLC has won a Supreme Court challenge in the UK over whether it should be held liable for any sexual assaults found to have been committed by a doctor who carried out medicals on its behalf.
The bank brought an appeal at the UK's highest court against earlier rulings that it is "vicariously liable" for any assault proven to have been carried out by the late Gordon Bates.
The proceedings arose out of a damages action brought by a group of 126 claimants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who allege that they were assaulted by the doctor.
The Supreme Court was asked to rule on the issue of whether an employer is "liable for sexual assaults committed by a medical practitioner in the course of medical examinations carried out at the employer's request either before or during the claimant's employment".
In a ruling on Wednesday, a panel of five justices unanimously allowed the bank's appeal saying that "in short [Bates] was a classic independent contractor" and the person engaging him is "not vicariously liable".
"The bank's appeal is allowed", the Supreme Court ruled.
By Alison Kershaw, PA
source: PA
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