– which placed it in the medium turnover bracket for a fine – the court decided it should have regard to Chevron’s turnover, which placed the case in the very large organisation bracket, bringing a consequent sharp increase in the potential fine. Reports suggest that it did so because


Chevron was responsible for the refinery when the explosion occurred, and significantly had agreed to provide Valero UK with an indemnity in respect of the incident and any fine imposed. Arguably, this is a case of exceptional circumstances.


Flexible application


Whilst the Court of Appeal decision is a welcome judgment for entities (with large parents) sentenced under the Guideline – as a strong reassertion of the principle that the corporate veil should not be pierced when sentencing a corporate offender – the court was at pains to stress that the Guideline was intended to be flexible ‘in order to meet the


broad range of circumstances which may fall to be considered in relation to’ such offences. That flexibility is seen in the Chevron case, where the indemnity was seen to be a key factor in assessing the financial realities of the situation. Significantly, both parties in that case


also agreed with the court’s approach to sentencing – in the same way that criminal fines can’t be insured against, the question remains whether an indemnity would hold up to scrutiny if the indemnifier refused to pay


Laura White is an associate in the health and safety team at Pinsent Masons. For more information, view page 5


This is Laura White’s final ‘Weighing up the law’ column for F&RM Journal – so we would like to take this opportunity to thank both her and Pinsent Masons for their time, expertise and regular contributions to our journal over the last three years.


www.frmjournal.com DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020


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