Book contents
- Causation in Competition Law Damages Actions
- Global Competition Law and Economics Policy
- Causation in Competition Law Damages Actions
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Introduction
- 1 Causation in Competition Law
- 2 Causation Rules in National Courts
- 3 Causation in the European Union Competition Law and Decisions
- 4 Causal Uncertainty in Competition Law Damages Claims
- 5 Proof Rules of Causation
- 6 Proving the Uncertain Causation
- 7 Causation in Indirect and Secondary Antitrust Damages
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Proving the Uncertain Causation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 December 2019
- Causation in Competition Law Damages Actions
- Global Competition Law and Economics Policy
- Causation in Competition Law Damages Actions
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Introduction
- 1 Causation in Competition Law
- 2 Causation Rules in National Courts
- 3 Causation in the European Union Competition Law and Decisions
- 4 Causal Uncertainty in Competition Law Damages Claims
- 5 Proof Rules of Causation
- 6 Proving the Uncertain Causation
- 7 Causation in Indirect and Secondary Antitrust Damages
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The previous chapter has presented the general proof rules of causation in competition damages actions. These standard rules burden the claimant with the proof of the essential elements of a tort, including causation. However, the claimant may find it very difficult if not impossible to prove causation, especially when information is limited or is not accessible. As observed in Chapter 5, the standard proof rules place the risk for the proof of the claim and the risk of error due to evidential uncertainty on the claimant. The rules allocating this risk are mainly the result of policy-based decisions aiming at distributing the risk fairly between the parties based on a moral statement. However, on the basis of equally justifiable policy and moral choices, it is possible to create exceptions to this rule in two cases: (1) when the information is readily available to the other party and (2) when it is fair, according to the type of responsibility, to allocate the risk differently.
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- Causation in Competition Law Damages Actions , pp. 141 - 163Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020