Re Polemis
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Re Polemis, [1921] 3 K.B. 560 is a famous United Kingdom tort case on causation and remoteness. The Court of Appeal held that a defendant can be held liable for all consequences flowing from the wrongful conduct regardless of how unforeseeable.
The defendant's employees were loading cargo into a ship. Due to an employee's negligence, a plank fell into the hold of the ship. The plank caused a spark, which ignited some fuel stored in the hold, causing an explosion that sunk the ship.
The Court held that the defendant was liable. Although the fire itself may not have been foreseeable, it was held that the defendant would nevertheless be liable for all direct consequences of his actions.
This decision was disapproved of, and its test replaced, in the later decision of the Privy Council in Wagon Mound No. 1, [1961] 1 All E.R. 404 (P.C.).
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