Tag archives: Causation

Insurance, causation and a SASRIA peril

By Donald Dinnie on July 27, 2022 Posted in Insurance

In this case the insured sued the primary insurer and SASRIA in the alternative in seeking an indemnity for its underground mining earthmoving equipment irreparably damaged when the mine in which the equipment was operating was flooded. The primary policy excluded the SASRIA perils. The SASRIA policy covered a labour unrest peril. The question was … Continue reading

Interpreting insurance contracts (part 7 – causation)

By Donald Dinnie on January 22, 2021 Posted in Insurance

An insured loss must be caused legally and factually by the insured peril. Even where factual causation is established legal causation does not automatically follow. In Concord Insurance Co Limited v Oelofsen N.O. (1992) the court said that in the contractual context policy considerations do not enter the enquiry (unlike in criminal law or delict, … Continue reading

Your storekeeper’s duty of care

By Hishaam Khan and Yash Naidoo on March 17, 2020 Posted in General

The High Court has held that the owner and manager of a supermarket negligently breached the duty of care it owed to a shopper who was injured trying to stop a loose rack from falling. The customer’s claim arose out of an incident in which he sustained a ruptured bicep when he was shopping at … Continue reading

Causation, the ‘but-for’ test and flexibility

By Donald Dinnie on February 24, 2020 Posted in Insurance

A defendant is not liable unless their wrongful conduct in fact causes the claimant’s harm. The defendant is also not liable merely because their conduct in fact caused the claimant’s harm. There must be both factual and legal causation. The long accepted test of factual causation is the ‘but-for’ test. One asks whether the claimant’s … Continue reading

That sinking feeling – proximate cause and insurance

By Donald Dinnie on January 20, 2020 Posted in Insurance

A German appeal court determined, in a marine claim, that the proximate cause of a vessel’s grounding and ultimate sinking after its main engine cut out was bad weather rather than an engine problem. Accordingly the loss was held to be proximately caused by peril of the sea, covered under the relevant policy. The events … Continue reading

Hospital’s negligence not causally linked to baby’s brain damage

By Erwyn Durman on September 5, 2019 Posted in General

In the AN case, the Supreme Court of Appeal held that despite the failure by the hospital to properly monitor the mother and foetus, during delivery, that did not cause the brain damage to the baby, which resulted from an unpreventable cause. The hospital had a legal duty to monitor the condition of the mother … Continue reading

‘Arising out of or in connection with’ use of land in liability insurance exclusion

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on April 23, 2018 Posted in Insurance

A New Zealand couple owned a farm in which they carried out farming activities and a landscaping business. They built and burned a fire heap on the property. Strong winds spread the embers and the fire spread rapidly onto nearby properties causing extensive damage. Their insurance policy excluded ‘legal liability arising out of or in … Continue reading

Operation of retroactive date

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on April 10, 2017 Posted in Insurance

Where an insurance policy had a retroactive date so that there was no indemnity for any claim ‘arising from or in any way involving any act, error or omission committed’ prior to 5 June 2009, the court held that the indemnity was due because there was no direct or indirect causal connection between the events preceding … Continue reading