A plaintiff who cannot establish the mechanism of a fall cannot prove causation merely by showing that the defendant's negligence created a higher risk of the type of injury suffered; the plaintiff must prove that the risk actually eventuated. The existence of a greater risk of falling from stairs without a balustrade does not establish that the plaintiff probably fell from the stairs. Robinson Helicopter does not constrain the Warren v Coombes/Fox v Percy approach to appellate review of inferential findings where no credibility assessment is involved.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 9 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 9 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.