[Law] UK Holding Company Accountable for Actions of Overseas Owning Company

[netixone]

The following relates mainly to "extraction and environmental", but is case law which could be leveraged against other sectors.

Of note:

Further, UK domiciled holding companies will wish to scrutinise carefully the indicia by which it was established that a sufficiently arguable parent company duty of care existed in this case. The Supreme Court held that there was an arguable case that the parent company had: taken over the management or joint management of the relevant activity of the subsidiary; and/or promulgated group wide safety / environmental policies and took active steps to ensure their implementation such that a duty of care could arise.

and

While UK parent companies will wish to give careful consideration to their own management structures, policies and practices in light of this judgment, significant uncertainty endures as to the precise circumstances in which a parent company duty of care will in fact arise. There is no special or separate legal test applicable to the tortious responsibility of a parent company for the acts of its subsidiary, and each case will need to examined on its own facts.

Source: Okpabi v Shell: Supreme Court allows appeal in jurisdictional challenge relating to parent company duty of care