THE IMPECUNIOUS PLAINTIFF: LEISBOSCH RECONSIDERED

Abstract

Owners of Dredger Liesbosh v. Owners of Steamship Edison, a well known House of Lords decision, is taken to stand for the proposition that a tort plaintiff may not recover damages which result from his own impecuniosity. Such damages are said to be too remote. Liesbosch has been misunderstood, however; the case does not stand for the proposition for which it is generally said to stand. Because their business was failing, the plaintiffs in Liesbosch divested themselves of their insurance. They thus created the risk of large injuries which they then sought to shift to the defendants through a tort action. Liesbosch is not about remoteness; it is about causation and stands for the proposition that the defendants in a tort action will not be required to pay for injuries caused by the plaintiffs.