Professional Negligence in Construction
Page 113
CHAPTER 6
Causation loss and damage in claims against construction professionals
Causation loss and damage in claims against construction professionals
- Introduction 113
- Section A: the essential approach 114
- Section B: scope of duty 114
- Section C: remoteness 116
- Section D: causation 118
- Effective cause 118
- Break in the chain of causation 119
- Outcome dependent upon hypothetical actions 120
- Section E: assessment of loss 122
- Costs of rectification or diminution in value? 122
- Other expenditure or costs 124
- Liability to third parties 125
- Personal injury, inconvenience and distress 126
- The construction professional’s fees 127
- Section F: mitigation 128
- Section G: limitation of actions 129
- Section H: contributory negligence 132
- Section I: contribution 134
Introduction
6.1 A construction professional may have acted in breach of contractual and tortious duty without causing the person to whom that duty was owed any loss. Indeed, although a breach of contractual duty will always amount to “liability” even if it results in no damage,1 there is no breach of tortious duty unless damage is caused, “damage” being an essential ingredient of the tort of negligence.