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Causation - General. Burr v. Tecumseh Products of Canada Limited
In Burr v. Tecumseh Products of Canada Limited (Ont CA, 2023) the Court of Appeal considered basics of causation:[49] ... The test for showing causation is the “but for” test. The plaintiff must show on a balance of probabilities that “but for” the defendant’s negligent act, the injury would not have occurred. Inherent in the phrase “but for” is the requirement that the defendant’s negligence was necessary to bring about the injury ― in other words that the injury would not have occurred without the defendant’s negligence. This is a factual inquiry: Clements v. Clements, 2012 SCC 32, [2012] 2 S.C.R. 181, at para. 8. The determination of the standard of care and whether there is a breach is a question of mixed law and fact: Housen v. Nikolaisen, 2002 SCC 33, [2022] 2 S.C.R. 235, at paras. 31, 70. The standard of review is correctness for questions of law, and palpable and overriding error for findings of fact, mixed fact and law, and inferences of fact: Housen, at paras. 8, 10 and 19-20. . Sajid v. Certas ['direct cause']
In Sajid v. Certas (Div Ct, 2022) the Divisional Court considered an issue of 'direct cause' in a MVA insurance case:[39] The Appellant relies on North Waterloo Farmers Mutual Insurance Co. v. Samad (Samad)[12], in which the Divisional Court held:[65] A “direct cause” is a cause or an act that sets in motion an uninterrupted chain or train of events or the first in a row of blocks after which the rest fall down without the assistance of any other act or intervention of any other force. If an unbroken chain of events involving the use or operation of an automobile leads to an injury, the injury can be said to have been directly caused by the incident. (Chisholm v. Liberty Mutual Group, 2002 CanLII 45020 (ON CA), [2002] O.J. No. 3135 (C.A.) at para. 27 and Petrosoniak and Security National Insurance Co. (FSCO A98-000198, November 2, 1998), at p. 7.)
[66] There need not be one direct cause, and a direct cause need not be the most immediate cause. (Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company and Webb (FSCO Appeal P11-00015, July 18, 2012), p. 6.)
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