Where there are three consecutive and related sets of negligent conduct by different actors, s 5D(1)(a) of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) must be applied separately to each, and each act of negligence may be a necessary element in a set of conditions sufficient to cause the harm, even though no single act alone would have caused the injury. A modifier of equipment who knows how a mechanism works and that operator inadvertence is foreseeable has a duty extending to providing failsafe mechanisms, not merely warnings. Contractual allocation of liability between tortfeasors does not necessarily require adjustment of the just and equitable apportionment under s 5 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1946 (NSW).
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