Torts Outline - IV. NEGLIGENCE (Causation & Damages)
Jeremiah
Terms in this set (17)
i) There are multiple tortfeasors and it cannot be said that the defendant's tortious
conduct necessarily was required to produce the harm;
ii) There are multiple possible causes of the plaintiff 's harm, but the plaintiff cannot
The but-for test of causation often will not
prove which defendant caused the harm; or
work if:
iii) The defendant's negligent medical misdiagnosis increased the probability of the
plaintiff 's death, but the plaintiff probably would have died evenwith a proper
diagnosis.
a substantial-factor test.
When but-for causation does not work, most
Under the minority rule of the Third Restatement, each such cause or act is regarded as
courts substitute
a factual cause of the harm. Together they are designated as "multiple sufficient
causes."
If the plaintiff's harm was caused by
(i) one of a small number of defendants—usually two and almost never more than four
or five,
Alternative causation (ii) each of whose conduct was tortious, and
(iii) all of whom are present before the court,
then the court may shift the burden of proof to each individual defendant to prove that
his conduct was not the cause in fact of the plaintiff's harm.
If two or more tortfeasors were acting pursuant to a common plan or design and the
Concert of action acts of one or more of them tortiously caused the plaintiff 's harm, then all defendants
are jointly and severally liable.
Under this doctrine, courts allow the plaintiff to recover reduced damages, often
measured by an amount equal to the total damages recoverable as a result of the
decedent's death multiplied by the difference in the percentage chance of recovery
Loss of chance of recovery before the negligent misdiagnosis and after the misdiagnosis.
(Total Damages × (% chance of life w/o misdiagnosis - % chance of life w/
misdiagnosis)).
A defendant is liable for reasonably foreseeable consequences resulting from his
Majority rule, Causation, Proximate Cause:
conduct.
Torts Outline - IV. NEGLIGENCE (Causation & Damages)
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