The same degree of care

摘要

In the case of Woodland v Essex County Council [2013] the Supreme Court has ruled that an education authority could be sued in the civil courts even though employees of the education authority were not involved in carrying out the service that allegedly caused injury. The basic position is that civil liability for personal injury can usually be defended if a competent independent contractor is engaged to carry out a service, for example, if a local council contracts with a private bus company to provide buses to and from school. If a person is injured in the course of the independent contractor providing those services, the local council (in this example) can usually rely on a defence where it can be shown that they appointed a competent supplier and took reasonable steps to ensure that competence was maintained throughout the duration of the contract.