Corporate killing: dead on arrival?

Proposals for reform of the law of involuntary manslaughter and the implications for directors' and officers' liability insurers

A successful prosecution for involuntary manslaughter would potentially satisfy the desire for justice, but the current legal framework is not perceived to provide a just result. Those responsible for operating large corporations cannot be linked closely enough with the acts or omissions that led to the disaster, so neither senior individuals nor the corporation itself can be convicted.

Various proposals for reform have been put forward, including the possibility of the creation of a new offence of "corporate killing".

This article reviews the existing law on involuntary manslaughter and considers the proposals for reform. It also considers whether the new regime would provide a more effective remedy or whether a more focused application of the current health and safety legislation would deliver a better result.

In addition, the implications for directors' and officers' liability insurers are discussed. Senior individuals within corporations may be the subjects of prosecution in their own right or central characters in any investigation of the corporation itself, so the insurance protection available to them is a key issue.

This article appeared in the  Journal of insurance research and practice and was submitted as an FCII dissertation (Major achievement - option 2).

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