Proving a breach of contract is only the start. The harder question — the one that decides what your client actually recovers — is which losses the law will pay for. A loss must survive three filters before it counts as recoverable, and a solicitor advising on a claim needs to identify, quickly and accurately, whether each head of loss gets through or drops out. Get this wrong and you over-promise or under-claim; get it right and you can value a claim with real confidence.
This lesson takes you through the three filters in turn and then puts them to work on the facts.
- The Three Filters — the framework of causation, remoteness and mitigation, and who carries the burden of proving each.
- Causation and Breaking the Chain — the 'but for' test and the intervening events that can sever the link between breach and loss.
- Remoteness — the two-limb test, the difference between ordinary and special losses, and why the timing of knowledge matters.
- The Duty to Mitigate — what reasonable steps a claimant must take, what they can and cannot recover, and who must prove a failure.
- Identifying the Failing Stage — pinpointing, on a set of facts, exactly which filter defeats a particular loss.