VICARIOUS LIABILITY IN NIGERA

Somewhere in Nigeria, one of the drivers of a firm carelessly caused an accident while running an errand for the firm and this damaged the firm's car and the private car of an innocent person.The man whose car got damaged in the accident has now brought claims against the firm that sent the driver on errand demanding that the firm should repair his car. The firm, in its reply, contended that it was not responsible for the damage as the driver was on its own.

Is there any remedy for the owner of the damaged car in the above scenario?

THE LEGAL POSITION
In the Nigerian law of torts, this above scenario gives rise to vicarious liability.In other words, the firm is vicariously liable for the damage its driver did to the car of a third party.The firm in that case should be held responsible for the damage of a third party's car.Thus, it is the firm that will pay for the repair of the damaged car.

The rationale behind this rule that forces someone to be responsible for wrong doing of another person in this kind of situation is that men in the condition of that driver in the scenario are deemed to be men of straw who cannot bear the financial liability that may arise against them in the discharge of the work assigned them by their employers.

However,  this may not be so in all cases.For instance, the driver would have been personally liable, if he had been on a frolic of his own.Put differently, he would have been personally liable to repair the car if he had hit the car with the firm's car but while carrying out an assignment  not assigned to him by his employer.

Thank you for your attention. See you on 7th April, 2015.