To what extent must the defendant’s breach be the cause of the

claimant’s loss?

What happens if there are multiple potential causes of the claimant’s

loss and the defendant’s breach is just one cause?

Even if the breach is the factual cause of the claimant’s loss, are
there any policy or other reasons to justify denying liability?
Causation

Negligence is generally broken down into duty, breach,

causation and remoteness. You have already considered duty Loss or damage
and breach. Once breach is established, the claimant must
then prove that this breach caused the damage. This link or
'nexus' between breach and damage is essential. Without it the Duty
claimant's claim will fail, ie there will be no liability.
To determine if there is the necessary link two points must be Breach
considered:
(a) Factual causation; and
Causation
(b) Legal causation.
Factual causation deals with establishing the link between the
breach and the damage, whereas legal causation involves Remoteness
considering whether there are any grounds upon which the link
should be regarded as having been broken. Defences
In this topic you will study the following
elements:
(a) Factual causation ('but for' test)
(b) Factual causation where the 'but for'
test cannot be satisfied
(c) Legal causation