Jobling v Associated Dairies Ltd [1982] AC 794 is an English tort law case, concerning causation, and whether damages are recoverable if a second accident harms a claimant so as to submerge a first.
The plaintiff got a back injury at work from employer's breach of duty. Then, unrelated, the claimant got a spinal disease, myelopathy, and could not work anyway. The employer argued they should not have to pay compensation for the back injury, since Jobling would have been unable to work in any case.
The Court of Appeal held the defendant was not liable for plaintiff's loss of earning after he contracted the spinal disease.
The House of Lords held that Associated Dairies was not liable for damages after the spinal disease, because this was part of the âÂÂvicissitudes of lifeâÂÂ. Lord Wilberforce said Lord Reid's theory of concurrent causes in Baker v Willoughby was unworkable, and continued:
Lord Russell said the claims âÂÂdo not persuade me that we are led by Baker to take a further step.â Lord Keith also criticised Baker. Lord Bridge said Baker was unsustainable.