Weddall v Barchester Healthcare Ltd and Wallbank v Wallbank Fox Designs Limited [2012] EWCA Civ 25

These cases were appeals against County Court judgments in which employees suffered injury as a result of being attacked by another employee following an instruction given in the course of employment. The County Court found in the first instance that the employers could not be held liable for the violent acts of their employees. Both employees appealed, arguing that the employer had vicarious liability for the actions of their employees. The claimants submitted that, since employees must receive instructions and respond to them, an improper form of response, even a violent one, was an act within the course of employment, so that the defendant employer