Exam 9: Causation and the Remoteness of Damage

Match the case name to the exception to the 'but for' rule, the case created or helped to develop, or to the problem that faced the court. -Williams vThe Bermuda Hospitals Board (Bermuda) [2016]

Select the best explanation, from the list below, of the outcome of Chester v Afshar [2005].

Match the case name to the exception to the 'but for' rule, the case created or helped to develop, or to the problem that faced the court. -Bonnington Castings v Wardlaw [1956]

Match the potentially problematic element of causation to the scenarios given. -A negligently caused a car crash on a motorway. B, who was driving one of the other vehicles, was slightly injured and stayed in her car and waited for help. C, an ambulance driver, responding to the scene, collided with B's car at speed and seriously injured B.

Match the potentially problematic element of causation to the scenarios given. -A goes to hospital with severe head pains after banging his head on the floor of a playground. B, a doctor negligently examines him and sends him home. Later, A dies from a blood clot on the brain. Medical evidence showed that there was nothing B could have done to save him.

The difference between the decisions in Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services [2002] and the similar case of Barker v Corus [2006] is not in the reason for the decision but only in the decision relating to the extent of the defendant's liability.

Which of the following correctly describes the purpose of the 'but for' test?

Match the case name to the exception to the 'but for' rule, the case created or helped to develop, or to the problem that faced the court. -Wilsher v Essex Area Health Authority [1988]

Match the case name to the exception to the 'but for' rule, the case created or helped to develop, or to the problem that faced the court. -Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services [2002]

In his dissenting opinion in Gregg v Scott [2005] (the case that has ruled out, at least for now, claims for 'lost chance' in a medical setting), Lord Nicholls said that the case: 'raises a question which has divided courts and commentators throughout the common law world. The division derives essentially from different perceptions of what constitutes injustice in a common type of medical negligence case. Some believe a remedy is essential and that a principled ground for providing an appropriate remedy can be found. Others are not persuaded. I am in the former camp' (at [1]). He goes on to say that the idea that a patient can only recover damages if his original chance of recovery had been more than 50 per cent is '________ and indefensible' (at [3]).

Match the case name to the exception to the 'but for' rule, the case created or helped to develop, or to the problem that faced the court. -McGhee v National Coal Board [1973]

Judy had pains in her chest and went to hospital. A doctor gave her a cursory examination and told her to stay in the waiting room, where she later had a heart attack and died. Medical evidence suggested that even if the doctor had treated her properly, she would still have had only a 30 per cent chance of living. The doctor's negligence was a cause in fact of Judy's death.

Which of the following correctly explain the cause in law test? Please select all that apply.

To get past the cause in law test, the full extent of the damage has to be foreseeable.

Match the potentially problematic element of causation to the scenarios given. -A lit a firework but failed to ensure that it was properly secured in its holder before doing so. The firework went off at an angle, hitting a shelf in B's shop. An apple on the shelf rolled off and fell into B's coffee, which was on the counter, spilling some of the hot liquid onto B's arm and causing third degree burns.

Which of the following can potentially break the chain of causation?