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The "But For" Rule In Washington, Gerald Arthur De Garmo

Washington Law Review

The question of proximate cause is one which is of vital importance in determining where the liability for an act or omission shall fall. For this reason certain attempts have been made to set forth rules which should determine whether an act was the proximate cause of a particular result. The so-called "But For" rule for determining proximate cause is an outgrowth of this class of litigation and has been the cause of several interesting and apparently none too well reasoned cases, of which the famous "Bear Case" or Gilman v. Noyes is perhaps the best known. The true "But …