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Torts: Basic Fluency in a Fundamental Legal Language *(Revised for Fall '25)
Section 4 . 4 . 2 . 2
21 minutes

Scope of the Risk

Jordan Wallace-Wolf

Proximate cause is often explicated in terms of foreseeability or the scope of the risk created by the predicate conduct. See, e.g., ibid.; 1 Restatement (Third) of Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm § 29, p. 493 (2005) (hereinafter Restatement). A requirement of proximate cause thus serves, inter alia, to preclude liability in situations where the causal link between conduct and result is so attenuated that the consequence is more aptly described as mere fortuity.

Paroline v. U.S., 572 U.S. 434 (2014)

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