Causation is crucial in professional negligence cases. Proving that a defendant has been negligent is not enough; neither is proving that the claimant has suffered a loss. In order to succeed, a claimant must also prove that the defendant's negligence caused the claimant's loss.Causation is, however, a malleable construct. Every event has a thousand causes and we only see the ones we want to see. So, I ask myself: why do I succeed? And the answer is: because I am hugely talented. Why do I fail? Well, that's because of a whole host of extraneous factors completely outside my control. Think Gordon Brown and the economy.We see what we want to see. So it is natural that a claimant sees what it wants to see. The claimant has suffered a loss. The defendant is negligent. The latter must have caused the former. The logic flows like a river to the sea. It is equally natural when a defendant disagrees.
November 19, 2008 at 09:04 PM
1 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Legalweek
Often claimants in professional negligence cases are unable to establish that their loss was caused by the defendant. Peter Mansfield looks at the crucial – but often undervalued – concept of causation
Causation is crucial in professional negligence cases. Proving that a defendant has been negligent is not enough; neither is proving that the claimant has suffered a loss. In order to succeed, a claimant must also prove that the defendant’s negligence caused the claimant’s loss.
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