Non-distinctive injuries make legal causation impossible to prove, requiring litigation shortcuts.
Evidence
Monsanto, Dow, and other producers of Agent Orange consistently denied that it had toxic effects. Because the cancers suffered by veterans, and the birth defects among their children, were not distinctive, it would be difficult to prove that they were linked to Agent Orange rather than to other causes. The legal effort to establish such a link would ultimately involve almost 1,500 law firms, representing more than 2.4 million Vietnam veterans and their families. Against them were arrayed seven corporate defendants, who together spent roughly $100 million in preparation for the Agent Orange trial. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2151
Categorization
- DEFINE: Illustrates the causation requirement in tort litigation concretely: statistical attribution collapses when the injury (cancer, birth defect) is generic.
- XREF: connects to: An injury becomes a lawsuit only when a legal entitlement is violated — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1055; Negligence liability requires proving both causation and foreseeability of the injury. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3444; Causal proof in Tort cases requires distinctive harms, not just plausible exposure — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1034 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- An injury becomes a lawsuit only when a legal entitlement is violated
#expands(1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1055 - Negligence liability requires proving both causation and foreseeability of the injury.
#qualifies(1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3444 - Causal proof in Tort cases requires distinctive harms, not just plausible exposure
#corroborates(1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1034 - Mass-tort causation disputes turn on proving distinctive links absent identifying evidence
#corroborates(1.00) - Diffuse, delayed harm forces plaintiffs to prove causation through epidemiological and documentary evidence
#corroborates(1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2155 - Contingency fees make personal injury the main exception to one-shotters avoiding litigation
#expands(1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1114 - An unprincipled and unsound legal argument can never be right
#complicates(0.80) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 83 - Legal liability concepts can be redescribed without metaphysical notions.
#complicates(0.80) — Richard A. Posner, What Has Pragmatism to Offer Law?, 88 - Courts cannot be credited or blamed for effects they may not have caused.
#complicates(0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3208 - Strict liability for design defects reaches injuries no earlier doctrine could touch
#complicates(0.70) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3453