Sienkiewicz v Greif (UK) Ltd [2011] UKSC 10 is an English tort law case, concerning causation between a breach of duty and damage.
Sienkiewicz was the daughter of Mrs Costello, who had mesothelioma and died after asbestos from Greif Ltd's negligence, but also environmental exposure. Exposure at work, held the judge, increased the risk of mesothelioma by 18%. Greif Ltd argued Fairchild v Glenhaven Ltd only applied when there was more than one defendant, and causation had to be established by the balance of probabilities when there was just one employer. This required her to show Greif Ltd's negligence had âÂÂdoubled the riskâ from non-tortious factors. It was not established on the facts. Even if Fairchild did apply, Greif said its negligence still had to double the environmental risk to count as material.
The Court of Appeal held the claimant won based on Compensation Act 2006 section 3, which mandated that a material increase in risk would satisfy causation.
The Supreme Court held that as long as the defendant's negligence resulted in more than a de minimis exposure, they would be liable for all the damage from mesothelioma. It rejected that a defendant must be shown to have doubled the risk for this to qualify as material.
Lord Phillips said the following:
Lord Mance said: