Legal Cause
In the law of torts, which is personal injury law, legal cause is that which caused a plaintiff's injury, leading him or her to seek a remedy, or
compensation from the court. For accurately, it is known as proximate cause; in simple terms, it is the cause of an effect. The plaintiff's case assumes that this proximate or legal cause is the primary event or circumstance that led to the injury, even though it may not necessarily be the direct cause, or that which is "closest in space and time."
In essence, the legal/proximate cause is that event or condition that produces a particular, predictable consequence in and of itself without the intervention of any event or condition that may have occurred independently and could not have been foreseen.
Call us at (888) 360-4215 to speak with a mesothelioma paralegal
In determining legal cause, courts use the "but for" test - technically known as the sine qua non (SEE-neh kwah NOHN) rule. This is the question of whether or not the plaintiff's injury would have occurred without negligence on the part of the defendant.
Consider this statement: "But for the presence of asbestos, the plaintiff would not have contracted a disease." In other words, had the defendant not installed an asbestos product, the plaintiff would not now have cancer.
This establishes the legal/proximate cause; however, this is not the same as liability. In some jurisdictions, a "substantial factor" formula is applied. This means that the court considers whether or not the defendant's actions or conduct was the primary factor in causing the injury. If the defendant was aware of asbestos dangers but went ahead and employed the product anyway, this would be considered a primary factor and the defendant would be held liable.
However, this is very difficult to prove in asbestos cases.
This is the reason why in most asbestos cases, the liability rests with the original manufacturer, since there is solid documentation going back more than sixty years that the corporations that manufactured and aggressively marketed asbestos products were well aware of the health risks of those products.