We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part B - Causation and multiple tortfeasors
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 July 2009
In the river ‘Flumen’ that runs through an industrial area, a tremendous amount of fish are suddenly killed. Chemical analysis shows that the river contains high amounts of two chemical substances that have accumulated in the inner organs of the fish. One of the substances originates from plant A, the producer of household detergents, and the other one from plant B, the manufacturer of industrial solvents.
Who is liable if the fish kill was caused by both substances?
What is the extent of liability if it can only be shown that the fish kill was caused either by the industrial solvent or by the chemical used in the detergent production?
What is the extent of liability if it can be shown that the industrial solvent would have caused the death of the fish if the fish had not already been killed by the other chemical?
Comparative remarks
Comparison
The solution of concurrent causation is similar in all the European countries. This was explored by Case 14, which describes a fish kill. If two substances originating from different sources killed the fish, all jurisdictions provide for joint and several liability of the tortfeasors (cumulative causation). When one cause has taken effect before the other (intervening causation), nearly all reporters point out that only the person who caused the damage first is liable.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
