Dr. Saleh Nasser Al-Oteibi
Associate professor of private law – Kuwait International Law School

Abstract:

According to Kuwaiti civil law, the liability for any illegal action is personal because an individual is not liable unless he causes harm to others. In addition to this liability, Civil Law establishes exceptional liability in favor of harmed parties. Based on certain relationship to third parties, an individual may be liable not for his own actions but for the third parties’ actions. The liability of supervisors is one example of such liability. However, because such liability is exceptional, the law restricts it by some conditions and limits it to a certain situations.
Reviewing court decisions, it is clear that Kuwaiti courts developed some principles that emphasize that this liability does not include the harm caused by the individual under supervision to oneself. It is also worth noticing that courts incline towards holding a person liable for personal actions more than holding him liable for third parties’ actions. This undoubtedly reflects care for the individual under supervision who may be minor, handicapped or disabled. Unlike the case of personal liability, the supervisor may have a claim against his subordinate for the sum paid to the harmed person.
Part Two of this article explores the legal conditions for supervisors’ liability. Courts strictly require some conditions to hold the supervisor liable: he must be obliged to supervise; and he must commit a mistake in supervising. The following Part concludes that the strict law provisions of supervisor’s liability aims at protecting the supervised party. The law is similarly strict regarding the supervisor’s right to claims the damages paid from the supervised. After all, the law seems to favor the weaker side of the supervised and advance his interests assuming his limited financial abilities.

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