4. Remoteness
Even if the defendant factually and legally caused the damage, the law might decide it is not fair to hold the defendant responsible if the result was too "weird" or far-fetched. The law uses the Remoteness rule to limit liability.
Type of damage
A defendant is only liable for the type or kind of damage that a reasonable person should have foreseen. For example, if the defendant spills oil and it makes a dock messy, he is responsible for the cleanup. But if that oil unexpectedly catches fire due to someone else’s welding sparks, the defendant is not responsible for the fire damage if a fire was considered “unforeseeable” at the time.
Manner of damage
While the type must be reasonably foreseeable, the defendant does not have to foresee the exact way the injury happened, just that some injury of that general type was likely. For example, if it is foreseeable that a child may be burned by a lamp, the defendant is liable even if the lamp unexpectedly explodes and causes a massive fire.
Extent of damage: “Eggshell Skull” rule
While the type of harm must be foreseeable, the extent does not have to be. In general, a defendant “takes his victim as he finds him”. The defendant is responsible for the full extent of the damage. If a minor injury causes a major problem because the victim has a pre-existing condition, the defendant is still liable for the full extent of the harm. This is called the “eggshell skull” rule.
For example, if a worker is injured because their employer provided unsafe equipment, and that injury leads the worker to develop clinical depression and eventually attempt suicide, the suicide may not be considered “too remote” because it is directly traceable to the original negligent injury.
