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Amaca Pty Ltd v Ellis
The State of South Australia v Ellis
Millennium Inorganic Chemicals Ltd v Ellis

[2010] HCA 5
Case number
P13/2009
P14/2009
P12/2009
Before
French CJ, Gummow, Hayne, Heydon, Crennan, Kiefel, Bell JJ
Catchwords

Negligence – Causation - Balance of probabilities - Deceased was a smoker - Deceased exposed to respirable asbestos fibres in course of employment - Deceased died of lung cancer - No scientific or medical examination can say whether deceased's lung cancer caused by inhalation of tobacco smoke, respirable asbestos fibres, both, or neither - Use of epidemiological evidence - Whether epidemiological evidence founded inference of causation - "Synergistic" effect of smoking and exposure to asbestos fibres - Whether proved that exposure to asbestos more probably than not caused or contributed to deceased developing lung cancer - Relevance of material contribution.

Words and phrases – "epidemiology", "material contribution", "more probable than not", "relative risk", "synergistic effect".

Files
5.rtf (46.61 KB)
5.pdf (88.98 KB)