Causation in fact

But-for test( sine qua non)

• Defendant’s breach of duty was the cause of damage or not.

• If the result would not have happened, but for a certain event- then that event is the cause

• Contrariwise, the event is not the cause.

Barnett v Chelsa and Kensington Hospital management Committee

• The claimant’s husband a watchman, called early in the morning at the defendant's hospital and complained of vomiting after drinking tea.

• He was told to go home and consult his own doctor later, which amounted to a breach of hospitals duty to care.

• Later that day the claimant’s husband died of arsenical poisoning and the coroner’s (investigating officer) verdict was of murder by persons unknown.

• The hospital’s breach of duty was held to be a cause of the death, because, even if the deceased had been examined and treated with proper care, the possibility was that it would have been impossible to save his life by the time he arrived hospital.

Multiple causation

• Although the but-for test is a useful rule of thumb, its application leads to results which appear to defy common sense

• Hence in such cases, the principle multiple causation underlines law that, the defendant is partly to blame of the cause, but the act is material, he is liable for such act to such extend.

• And if the claimant is partly to blame for his own loss, the damages are reduced in proportion to his share of the blame.

Assertion of causation

• What had happened?

• What would have happened?

• Whether what the defendant did had any impact on the claimant?

• According to the traditional principles the claimant fails if he cannot prove beyond the balance of probabilities.

• As a matter of policy or justice- the defendant or the creator of the risk must have the foreseeability the possibility of damage, who should bear its consequences ( Mcghee v NCB)

Remoteness of consequence

• If a reasonable man would have foreseen any damage to the other as likely to result from his act, then he is liable for the direct consequences of it, whether a reasonable man would have foreseen them or not.

• based upon the legal duty.

• In Re Polemis

• The wagan Mound