RESPONSIBILITY IN GROUPS OF COMPANIES AND THE FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL LITIGATION

Abstract

EVER since the establishment of separate legal personality of companies and their limited liability in the nineteenth century, there have been attempts by voluntary and involuntary creditors of the insolvent or dissolved subsidiary to obtain remedies from the parent company. The orthodox view is that the parent company is neither responsible for the acts and omissions of the subsidiary nor liable for its debts. The Court of Appeal in David Thompson v The Renwick Group plc [2014] EWCA Civ 635 confirmed that the exceptions to this orthodoxy apply only in truly exceptional circumstances. As discussed below, the importance of this judgment extends into the realm of international human rights and environmental litigation and has the potential to set back the existing efforts within the European Union to ensure effective judicial remedy for corporate abuses.