Vicarious Liability of Employers in the Law of Tort: Deciphering Bangladesh Beverage Industries vs. Roswan Akhter and Others

While Bangladesh is certainly no stranger to cases of negligence, tort litigation remains virtually nonexistent because victims of negligence do not usually seek relief in tort law. It is in this context that the Supreme Court of Bangladesh’s recent decision in Bangladesh Beverage Industries v Rowsan Akhter and Others ordering a company to pay damages worth Taka 1.7 crore to family members of a pedestrian killed by the negligent driving of their employee is a historic milestone for tort law in Bangladesh. This seminal legal development has immense potential to not only substantiate the vicarious liability of employers for torts committed by their employees but also pave the way for wider and more robust tort litigation in Bangladesh. As such, this paper is an in depth study of the Bangladesh Beverage case and seeks to assess the precedential effect the case is likely to have with regard to the vicarious liability of employers in tort and the applicable limitation periods within which tort claimants must sue.