Causation - Building Contract Claims - page 130

Chapter 7
Causation
7.1 Theory
Causation is the relationship between cause and effect. It is an extremely
important concept in the context of liability. A wrongful act may trigger a
series of events which eventually results in damage being suffered. This is
called the 'chain of causation'(see Figure 7.1).
The loss and/or expense must be direct in the sense of remoteness and also
in the sense of the chain of causation, that is, the relationship between cause
and effect. The matter on which the contractor seeks to rely must be linked,
without interruption, to the loss suffered. Therefore if the cause is not the
matter, but some intervening event 381 , there will be no liability and no claim.
To put the situation another way, the loss and/or expense must have been
caused by the breach or act relied on and not merely be the occasion for it 382 .
Two simple examples may be contrasted. In the first one, a variation is
ordered which necessitates plant lying idle for some days. The plant is
needed for the original work, but at a very late stage the work is varied
and so the plant is not needed. Suppose the plant is hired in. The contract-
or's hire charges, subject to any reletting or the plant owner accepting an
early return, would be a direct loss and, therefore, reimbursable. In the
second example, a variation substitutes slates for roof tiles. After the con-
tractor has ordered the new slates, problems are encountered at the slate
quarry, which mean that the supply of slates is interrupted so that the
supplier is in breach of the supply contract. The delay and disruption to
the contract works consequent upon the interruption of supply are clearly a
direct consequence of the supplier's breach of the supply contract and only
an indirect consequence of the variation. It is in fact the direct consequence
of an intervening event - the supplier's breach. In such a case, it is for the
contractor to look, if at all, to the supplier for recompense. The principles of
causation have been set out in classic statements:
'It seems to me that there is no abstract proposition, the application of
which will provide the answer in every case, except this: one has to ask
oneself what was the effective and predominant cause of the accident that
happened, whatever the nature of that accident may be.'