What is remoteness of damage in tort?

• A. Liability is unlimited for all damages.
• B. Liability is limited to damage caused by negligence.
• C. Damages must be foreseeable as a natural consequence of the breach; not too remote.
• D. Liability depends on foreseeability alone.

Answer: (D)

Remoteness of damage in tort is about how far liability extends from the breach. The key idea is that you recover only for damages that a reasonable person could foresee as a possible consequence of the breach. In practice, this means the kind of damage must be foreseeable, not necessarily the exact event or the precise amount.

So damages recoverable are those that flow from the breach in a natural or probable way—if the type of damage is something a defendant could foresee, it’s within the liability; if the damage is of a kind that wasn’t foreseeable, it’s too remote and not recoverable. This focuses on foreseeability of the damage’s kind, while the exact amount or specific circumstances need not be foreseen.