Vicarious Liability Regime for Sport Injuries and the Way Forward

Vicarious liability, being a legal doctrine that holds individuals and entities liable for actions of a third party finds extensive application in the realm of sports injuries. However, owing to the recent developments and evolutions, the extent of liability remains questionable, thereby inducing the need to enact either a new legislation or develop narratives and interpretations for the current legislation. This paper uses doctrinal methods of research to examine the current liability framework in respect to application of vicarious liability in the UK, hereby discussing the issues of foreseeability, risk and contributory negligence, to derive inferences as to whether India as a jurisdiction should adopt the path of vicarious liability to deal with cases of sports injuries. Moreover, the paper examines and elaborates on the probability of development of a new regime encompassing vicarious liability and sport injuries, hence concluding why alternate dispute resolution mechanisms like arbitration are a better choice for cases of sports injuries.