Part Two Compensation, s.One General Principles in Assessing Compensatory Damages, 5 Proof of loss and loss of a chance

Subject(s):

Breach of contract — Loss of chance and damages

This chapter addresses the following question: when do the courts award compensatory damages for tort and breach of contract in proportion to the relevant chances rather than applying an all-or-nothing balance of probabilities approach? The area of controversy about damages for loss of a chance concerns uncertainty as to hypothetical events or the future. It does not concern uncertainty as to past fact. All uncertainty as to what happened in the past is resolved in the civil law by a balance of probabilities all-or-nothing approach.