La responsabilità della capogruppo per la violazione del duty of care: note a margine di Okpabi v. Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Abstract

The paper examines a UK-Supreme Court of Justice decision (Okbapi v. Royal Dutch Shell Plc) concerning the liability of a parent company for the abusive con-ducts of its subsidiaries. The Court explores whether and in what circumstances the UK-domiciled parent company of a multi-national group of companies may owe a common law duty of care to individuals who allegedly suffer serious harm as a re-sult of alleged systemic health, safety and environmental failings of one of its overseas subsidiaries as the operator of a joint venture operation. Although the decision focuses on preliminary issues of summary judgment, it pro-vides inputs to a renewed reflection on the duty of care upon the parent company to protect the subsidiary’s tort creditors.