Facts
- During World War II the steamship The Oropesa collided in the North Atlantic with the vessel The Manchester Regiment, causing serious damage.
- After the collision the captain of The Manchester Regiment ordered a lifeboat launched to transfer passengers and crew to the apparently less-damaged Oropesa.
- The lifeboat capsized in heavy seas and several occupants died.
- Representatives of the deceased sued, alleging the collision was due to the negligence of The Oropesa’s crew.
- The defendants contended that the captain’s decision to launch the lifeboat was an independent, unforeseeable act that constituted a novus actus interveniens, thereby severing the causal link between their negligence and the fatalities.
Issues
- Whether the decision to launch the lifeboat amounted to a novus actus interveniens that broke the chain of causation between the collision and the deaths.
- Whether the deaths and related losses were nonetheless legally attributable to the negligent navigation of The Oropesa.
Decision
- The Court of Appeal rejected the argument that the rescue attempt was an intervening act; it was a natural, reasonable and foreseeable response to the emergency created by the collision.
- Because the chain of causation remained intact, liability for the deaths rested with the negligent crew of The Oropesa.
- The court affirmed that, in general, acts of necessity or rescue undertaken in the face of danger caused by a defendant’s negligence do not absolve that defendant of liability.
Legal Principles
- Causation in negligence comprises factual causation (“but for” test) and legal causation (remoteness and intervening acts).
- An intervening act will break the chain only if it is unreasonable or unforeseeable; reasonable rescue efforts are ordinarily foreseeable.
- Human actions taken in emergencies are treated as foreseeable when assessing legal causation.
- Negligent parties remain liable for ensuing harm where subsequent rescue attempts are a foreseeable consequence of their breach.
Conclusion
The Court of Appeal held that the foreseeable and reasonable rescue attempt following the collision did not constitute a new intervening act; consequently, the deaths were legally caused by the negligent navigation of The Oropesa, and liability was upheld against its owners.