Also known as: remote damage · remoteness of damage · remoteness
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Damages too far removed in time, space, or causal sequence from the defendant's wrongful act to support recovery. Courts deny such damages because the link between the conduct and the claimed loss is too attenuated to satisfy legal causation requirements.
Riley Rivera operated a delivery service that relied on a single van. Redwood Bank mistakenly impounded the van and sold it at auction. Riley sought recovery for lost future contracts with new clients that would have arisen only after the bank had returned the vehicle months later. The court rejected those losses as remote because the claimed harm arose from an extended chain of independent business decisions unrelated to the original impoundment.
Robert Rivera organized a wildlife tour company near a protected habitat. A federal agency approved a distant development project that environmental groups claimed would eventually reduce animal sightings. Robert sued for projected loss of future bookings. The court dismissed the claim because the asserted injury depended on a speculative chain of ecological effects too remote to confer standing.
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Rhea Reynolds left a floor mat unsecured at her café. A customer tripped, spilling liquid into an outlet and briefly cutting power to a nearby intersection. The outage caused a distant multi-car crash that injured Ronald Reed. Reed sued Reynolds for his medical bills. The court held the injuries too remote because the sequence of events was highly extraordinary compared with ordinary risks from an unsecured mat.
Rosa Ruiz manufactured printer cartridges. Lexmark's false advertising about compatible parts allegedly caused some customers to avoid Ruiz's products. Ruiz sought damages for lost sales that would have occurred only after several layers of consumer decisions. The court dismissed the claim because the asserted injury was too remote from the original statements to satisfy proximate-cause limits.
Raymond Ramos owned a coal company that contributed to a judicial candidate's campaign. Years later the same judge presided over a contract dispute involving the company. The opposing party sought to vacate the judgment on due-process grounds. The court found the contribution too remote in time and connection to create an unconstitutional risk of bias.
Radiance Media negotiated a collective-bargaining agreement that later produced a strike. The union sought damages for lost wages that would have accrued only if the company had accepted a different wage formula years earlier. The court rejected the claim because the asserted losses rested on a remote and hypothetical chain of bargaining outcomes.
A court treats damages as remote when the causal chain between the defendant's conduct and the claimed loss is highly extraordinary or attenuated. The inquiry focuses on whether the harm falls outside the ordinary risks created by the negligence or other wrong. If the sequence of events appears bizarre in hindsight, liability is cut off even if factual causation exists.
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No. An intervening act renders damages remote only when it produces a harm different in kind from the risk that made the original conduct wrongful. Courts examine whether the new harm is qualitatively distinct and whether the location or nature of the injury has shifted dramatically from the original risk.
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A plaintiff may recover reasonable mitigation expenses even if they occur after the initial harm, provided the efforts are directed at preventing further damage from the same wrong. The law treats such costs as within the scope of the original injury rather than as remote.
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Extra costs are recoverable only when they are a direct and legally caused consequence of losing the converted chattel. Long-term or speculative business losses that depend on future market conditions remain remote and unrecoverable.
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…it touches subjects on which the States have historically been the primary legislators. Neither suggestion is tenable. As for remoteness, it may or may not be wise for the National Government to deal with education, but Justice Breyer has surely demonstrated that the commercial prospects of an illiterate State or Nation are…