UNITED KINGDOM
UK Human Rights Blog
July 16, 2012 by Rosalind English
JEG v The Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan [2012] EWCA Civ 938
Elizabeth Anne-Gumbel QCand Justin Levinson of One Crown Office Row acted for the claimant in this case. They did not write this post.
The Court of Appeal has now confirmed that the church can be held liable for the negligent acts of a priest it has appointed. Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court has been refused.
This appeal was another preliminary stage in the main action between the claimant’s action for damages following the alleged sexual abuse and assault by a parish priest (now deceased), and the trustees of the diocesan where he served. The Court of Appeal has now confirmed that the defendants can held to account, even though there was no formal employment relationship between Father Baldwin and the Diocesan – see Rachit Buch’s post for an excellent analysis of the issues and summary of the facts.
Background
The claimant argued that the defendants should be held liable for the wrongdoing of the priest because at the time they “operated and/or managed and/or were responsible for” the church where he served. The defendants were said to have entrusted the safe keeping and care of the claimant to Father Baldwin. It was also alleged that the sexual abuse and assaults perpetrated by the priest were committed in the course of or were closely connected with his employment and therefore that the defendants were vicariously liable for the injury and damage which the claimant suffered.
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