Would you think it an honour to be invited to be a member of an exclusive club, committee or local organisation, well before excitement clouds your legal senses, think liability!  A recent ruling by the Court of Appeal, will remind many of a basic concept, separate legal personality!

Many  forget or neglect to take seriously that where an organisation is  unincorporated then ANY member of such club or organisation can be held personally liable for any claims, since it has not its own legal identity.

A members golf club comprising of 900 members, would have been complacent to find that fractured boiler which polluted a nearby watercourse, until the Environmental Agency initiated prosecution against the club…

Two of the members got the short straw as they were picked by court to fork the full extent of liability, through the leak had not been deliberately caused by any of the members.

The offence charged was causing a poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter controlled waters, contrary to s 85 of the Water Resources Act 1991. The act makes the landowner criminally responsible for his tank and as the club was unincorporated then….(you said it) the landowners are the members. The maximum sentence for such an offence is two years imprisonment and a fine.

The members sought to have the indictment quashed but just as an extra sting, the offence is a strict liability offence removing the defence of mitigation knowledge of the act.

One imagines that many will now be contemplating two options, incorporation or un-subscription!

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