Neg: Causation

Question 1

What is causation?

Answer 1

• ties the breach to the damages

- shows a connection between D’s negligent conduct and P’s injuries

Question 2

What is “but for” causation?

Answer 2

• the harm wouldn’t have occurred without the D’s negligence

- P can’t recover if D couldn’t have prevented the accident, even by exercising due care

Question 3

What is the Substantial Factor test?

Answer 3

tests whether the particular breach was a substantial factor that contributed to the harm, even if it wasn’t the sole cause (i.e. 2 motorcycles scared a horse; both were substantial factors)

Question 4

How is causation proved?

Answer 4

1) expert testimony
2) witnesses
3) circumstantial evidence
4) statistics
* not necessary to discount all possible causes

Question 5

What are the 2 legal principles from Ingersoll v. Liberty Bank? (cracked stair caused heart attack)

Answer 5

1) It’s enough for P to show facts and conditions from which D’s neg. and causation by that neg. may be reasonably inferred
2) If there are several possible causes, one or more where D isn’t responsible, and it’s reasonable that injury resulted from those causes, P can’t recover

Question 6

What are the 2 ways that untaken precautions can prove causation?

Answer 6

1) If D’s neg. significantly increased chances of injury, and that injury occurred, there’s sufficient evidence of causation
2) If D violates a rule that tries to prevent such accidents, D has burden to prove injury still would have happened if they’d followed the rule

Question 7

define joint tort-feasors

Answer 7

parties must have acted together, had vicarious liability, or both caused a single injury (if they acted independently)

Question 8

How are damages apportioned when there are multiple parties?

Answer 8

When multiple negligent parties cause a single indivisible harm, Ds can be jointly or severally liable for the entire harm

Question 9

What is Alternative Liability?

Answer 9

When multiple Ds breach a duty to P, but it’s unknown which D caused the injury, each D bears the burden to prove he didn’t cause harm

Question 10

What is the Market Share theory of liability?

Answer 10

If P can’t identify which manufacturer produced the product that caused injury, courts can apply market share theory to deal with damages (i.e. D is liable proportional to share of product sold in the state/national market)