3 - TORT - remoteness

Question 1

What is ‘remoteness’

Answer 1

D may be the legal and factual cause of C’s loss, but how liable is D for those losses?

Question 2

Does C need to show only that some harm would occur, or do they need to show that the type of harm would occur?

Answer 2

Type of harm

Question 3

What cases cover type of harm?

Answer 3

• Oil spill, liable for clean up but not for damage when oil set fire (which was unlikely)
  🛢️✅🔥❌
• C got a disease from rat’s urine. Found rat bites were likely, but not rat’s urine.
  🐀✅🫛❌
• Fan heater in Van didn’t work. Likely that some cold injury would occur therefore, frostbite fell within this sort of injury
  🚚🪭🥶✅✅

Question 4

Do you need to see the exact way damage will occur?
(Inc. case)

Answer 4

No

• oil lams left around a hole. Child dropped lamp into hole causing an explosion and burns. Burns were likely even if exact cause was not.
  🪔🕳️🔥

Question 5

Do you need to foresee the extent of the damage?

Answer 5

No, once the damage is reasonably forseable, D is liable for full extent of damage.

• Small explosion was foreseeable but not the huge one that happened.
  🔥💥
• D Burnt C’s skin provoking onset of pre-existing cancer. Once burn foreseeable they’re liable to everything that follows (thin skull rule).
  🔥🩹☠️