Tort; Negligence; causation of harm; multiple independent causes.
Facts: Early in February 1960, a director of Performance Cars was involved in a collision between his own Rolls Royce car and another car. The other driver admitted full responsibility. To fix the Rolls Royce, the lower half of the car had to be resprayed. Two weeks later, before the repairs had been done, the Rolls Royce was involved in another collision with a car driven by Abraham, who admitted being at fault. This second accident also damaged the paint on the lower half of the Rolls Royce. Because the driver of the car who had first collided with the Rolls Royce seemed unable to pay for the damage, Performance Cars sued Abraham for the whole cost of respraying the lower half of the car.
Issue: Was the need for respraying caused by Abraham's careless driving?
Decision: The court held that since the car already needed re-spraying when Abrahams collided with it, his negligence had not caused that harm and he was not liable for the cost.
Reason: Lord Evershed MR said (at 416):
"In my judgment in the present case the defendant should be taken to have injured a motor car that was already injured in certain respects, that is, in respect of the need for re-spraying; and the result is that to the extent of that need or injury the damage claimed did not flow from the defendant's wrongdoing."