In negligence cases involving causation, a plaintiff may advance alternative cases that the defendant's breach caused the injury entirely or caused the injury to be more severe than it otherwise would have been, and a trial judge errs by withdrawing the 'less severe injury' alternative from the jury. Where a misdirection deprives a party of the possibility of success on an alternative case, the respondent bears a high burden to show a proper direction could not have made a difference, and the Court of Appeal will give significant weight to a party's entitlement to jury trial when choosing between appellate determination and remittal for retrial.
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