If it’s impossible to identify who caused an injury, how is liability shared among parties?

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The correct answer indicates that when liability cannot be clearly assigned to specific parties due to the impossibility of identification, the legal principle of joint and several liabilities applies. This principle allows the total damages incurred by the injured party to be recovered from any one of the parties found liable, regardless of their individual percentage of fault.

In practical terms, this means that if multiple parties are at fault but it is impossible to determine who specifically caused the injury, any one of those parties can be responsible for the entirety of the damages awarded to the injured plaintiff. This approach protects the injured party, ensuring they are able to recover damages even if one or more liable parties are unable or unwilling to pay their share.

This principle is particularly relevant in situations where multiple tortfeasors may have contributed to an injury, and it's difficult to ascertain the degree of contribution from each. The idea is to prevent the injured party from being left without remedy simply because of the inability to pinpoint causation among the defendants.

Understanding this framework provides clarity on how liability operates under these circumstances and emphasizes the legal system's inclination to favor the injured party's right to recover damages.

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