Vicarious Liability in the Sports Industry

Book excerpt: This timely book is the first to critically examine the doctrine of vicarious liability in the context of the sports industry. Drawing on theoretical, empirical and interdisciplinary research, the book focuses on the close connection test at stage two of vicarious liability, highlighting how vicarious liability could be used to hold sports employers strictly liable for a wide range of on-the-field and off-the-field harms committed by their athletes. It considers the extent to which vicarious liability might be applied to clubs and sporting organisations for personal injuries and racial abuse suffered by participants during competition, and examines whether employers in the sports industry ought to be held vicariously liable for the sexual assault of young athletes and women away from the field. This book is important reading for any student, researcher or practitioner interested in sports law, tort law, private law theory, socio-legal studies, jurisprudence, gender studies and sports ethics.