Negligence and the scope of liability (legal causation)

1. Negligence and the scope of liability:

Most people would be right to think that if they suffer injury, loss, and damage as a result of someone else's negligence, and they can prove it, then they will succeed in their case. However, the legal test for proving negligence, and causation, is not as straight forward as the commonly accepted concepts and definitions.

It is relatively well known that in personal injury law a Plaintiff must be able to prove that a person or entity owed them a 'duty of care', and:

• that there was a breach of that duty of care (i.e. negligent conduct), and;
• that the breach of the duty of care is that which caused the injury, loss, or damage complained of. In legal terms, this is referred to as "factual causation".