Category Archives: Causation
Haley Todd Newsome, ‘Advancing Tort Law for Climate Displacement Compensation’
ABSTRACT Climate change has already displaced people from their homes and is predicted to displace millions more in the coming decades. Involuntary climate-induced migration causes loss and damage before, during, and after the displacement. In this Note, I argue that the climate displaced should seek tort compensation from fossil fuel companies for this loss and […]
‘But-for What? When Anti-Discrimination Law Tried to Borrow from Tort Law and Missed Something’, Robin Dembroff and Issa Kohler-Hausmann, University of Toronto and online, 20 September 2024
The talk will be a hybrid talk, taking place in person at the University of Toronto Centre for Ethics (15 Devonshire Place), with a synchronous broadcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/live/FbP8fecnE-E. Courts and commentators often define discrimination in causal terms. Moreover, they often claim that the causal definition of discrimination tracks the role that causality plays establishing […]
Chen Meng Lam, ‘The End of SAAMCO Counterfactual? Charles B Lawrence & Associates v Intercommercial Bank Limited (Trinidad and Tobago) [2021] UKPC 30′
ABSTRACT The recent decision in Charles B Lawrence & Associates v Intercommercial Bank Limited (Trinidad and Tobago) [2021] UKPC 30 serves as a salutary reminder that the SAAMCO counterfactual can be more of a hindrance than help in identifying the extent of a claimant’s loss that falls within the defendant’s scope of duty. In Lawrence, […]
Choi Young Jae, ‘Falsifying falsification’
ABSTRACT Almost a decade after the UKSC’s decision of AIB v Redler, there remains significant academic criticism and judicial scepticism towards the employment of causal inquiries in equity’s remedial response to trustees’ misapplications of trust property. This article seeks to defend AIB, and the causal principles enunciated therein, from those criticisms. It does so by […]
‘Damages: Symposium Presentation of Anthony Sebok’
ABSTRACT Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm §27 adopts the ‘Anderson Rule’, stating that a simultaneous sufficient cause does not prevent a tortious actor from being considered a cause-in-fact and thus potentially liable for the harm caused. However, Comment d of §27 reserves the issue of apportioning liability among […]
Patricia de Moraes Paisani Matthey Claudet, ‘Michael Holmes v Poeton Holdings Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 1377: a necessary clarification for a non “de minimis” discussion in causation’
INTRODUCTION Establishing factual causation is one of the most challenging steps to assess the feasibility of potential claims in the Tort of Negligence, especially in nuanced circumstances where the injury sustained by the claimant can originate from multiple causes. This is particularly sensitive in occupational health and medical negligence claims. In some of these cases, […]
Ole Andreas Rognstad, ‘Creations Caused by Humans (or Robots)? Artificial Intelligence and Causation Requirements for Copyright Protection in EU Law’
ABSTRACT The current legal framework for protecting works of authorship in EU law presupposes that the work is the author’s ‘own intellectual creation’. The requirement is challenged in an environment where AI is used in creative processes. It is presumed that the concept of ‘own intellectual creation’ implies a causation requirement in that creation must […]
Jing and Xiao, ‘Causation in Equitable Compensation: But For Test without Novus Actus Interveniens?’
ABSTRACT Various Claimants v Giambrone & Law (A Firm) (Giambrone), as a Court of Appeal decision, holds significant referential value for subsequent courts interpreting the rule established in AIB Group (UK) Plc v Redler (AIB). However, current literature lacks a thorough examination of Jackson LJ’s reasoning in Giambrone, particularly in his interpretation and application of […]
Andre Nollkaemper, ‘Causation Puzzles in International Climate Litigation’
ABSTRACT The multiplicity of causes of climate change may make it very difficult, if not impossible, to establish causal connections between individual states’ greenhouse gas emissions and the harmful effects of climate change. This causation puzzle offers states a defence against claims that they would be responsible for harmful effects. However, the increasing body of […]
Jane Stapleton, ‘Unnecessary and Insufficient Factual Causes’
ABSTRACT Law recognizes a necessary (ie, but-for) factor as a factual cause. However, it is a common misconception that the but-for test is the exclusive test of factual causation. Longstanding case law reveals that a factor may be a factual cause of an outcome, even if it was neither necessary nor sufficient for it. This […]