Q&As

Local authority duty of care in commercial stress cases

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Produced in partnership with David Sawtell of 39 Essex Chambers
Published on: 05 August 2016

Does a local authority owe a duty of care to an individual, who has identified themselves as suffering from stress and with whom they have a commercial relationship?

The question of liability for causing psychiatric illness is a wide topic. Each case will be heavily fact dependent. This Q&A will only set out the broad Parameters of the question.

The fact that a claimant is in a contractual relationship or is a contractor of the party (such as a public Authority) whose negligence may factually be causative of his psychiatric injury does not disapply the rules which apply specially into claims for compensation for adverse psychiatric effects. Claimants in stress cases have usually been the subject of a continuous causative process and are normally considered to be primary victims.

Most cases of occupational stress are concerned with an employer's liability to an employee. In this question, it appears that the individual is not employed by the public authority but is in a 'commercial' relationship. The difference is important as all employers have a duty to take reasonable

David Sawtell
David Sawtell

39 Essex Chambers

David is a barrister specialising in property, commercial and chancery fields. He was called to the Bar in 2005. He is regularly instructed in complicated property, company and commercial litigation, as well as cases involving professional liability. He has particular expertise in cases involving a cross over between different areas of law or where there are allegations of dishonesty or fraud. He appears regularly in the Chancery Division and has been reported in the Court of Appeal. He is regularly published across a number of leading practitioner’s periodicals, including the Commercial Litigation Journal and the Procurement and Outsourcing Journal. He speaks regularly at seminars and conferences on commercial and civil litigation topics. He was the author of the two commercial litigation units for the Level 4 higher apprenticeships in legal services. He is a tenant at Lamb Chambers.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Key definition:
Local authority definition
What does Local authority mean?

The County, Unitary or london borough Council for a defined area.

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