Dear Colleagues;

The UKSC has now handed down its decision on non-delegable duty owed by schools, in Woodland v Essex County Council [2013] UKSC 66 (23 October 2013)  http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2013/66.html . I am very pleased to say that the Court as a whole all held that schools do indeed owe a non-delegable duty of care to pupils, and hence that in the Woodland case the matter needed to be sent for trial on the basis that the local authority running the school might be held liable for negligence by the contracted swimming instructors whose carelessness may have given rise to Miss Woodland's injuries. Lord Sumption sets out a set of five criteria which he thinks should be applied to determine if an NDD is owed at para [25], which as far as I can recall look pretty similar to the criteria suggested by list member John Murphy a few years ago. Lady Hale, in an essentially concurring judgment (I am still not quite sure why her Ladyship felt it necessary to deliver a separate judgment; if anyone notices a difference between her and Lord Sumption let me know!) specifically cites list member Christine Beuermann at [33] (and the TLJ!).

Lord Sumption refers in detail to High Court of Australia decisions on the point and agrees that the approach taken in Introvigne and Kondis is generally correct. My only mild qualm about the judgment is that his Lordship suggests at [21] that in Lepore "by a majority of 4-3 (Gaudron, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ) the Court held that the schools owed a non-delegable duty". I concede that Lepore is such a complex and confusing decision that I may have missed it, but I don't think Gummow and Hayne JJ really supported a non-delegable duty in the context of the intentional tort of sexual assault being considered in that case. But this, even if I am right, is a minor blemish in what I consider to be a very good ruling.

Colleagues may not have realised (I hadn't until a few weeks ago) that the UKSC has now taken to giving a "5 minute" video summary of their decisions which is available on Youtube. Those who are interested to see and hear Lord Sumption summarise the decision can do so at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_Cu49Lht8w&feature=c4-overview&list=UUdkf93h71xVAl28v467Hk7w .

Regards

Neil