Factual Causation in Toxic Tort Litigation: A Philosophical View of Proof and Certainty in Uncertain Disciplines

2000, at 8A. 5. Cf Ritter, supra note 1 (reporting on lung cancer clusters detected in Libby, Montana, where W.R. Grace operated a vermiculite mine that processed asbestos until 1990); see generally Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Prods.Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir.1973) (discussing the dangers of asbestos within the context of a products liability suit).6. See MARIO BUNGE, CAUSALITY: THE PLACE OF THE CAUSAL PRINCIPLE IN MODERN SCIENCE 148 (1963).The physical cause represents linearity theory where one agent finds itself in an active and productive state, while the effect produced by the active agent is a passive consequence.An example of physical cause may be an actor's manufacture of an agent.The active state and the passive consequence combine to represent a peripatetic dichotomy of substances into agents and patients, without simultaneous account for the concept of reactivity theory.As related to toxic causation, traditional legal theory requires adherence to the former linearity theory, which requires proof of traceability.Modern legal theory, however, would attach significance to concepts of reactivity or multi-factor theories, which requires expanded notions of proof to account for causal cycles or webs of causation.Id.7. Id. at 5-7.The efficient cause is a clearly conceived concept of motion that can be assigned an empirical correlate, namely an event, which produces another traceable event, that can be deduced either by experience or by empirical testing.The efficient cause, in short, is the actual agent, not the actor, producing some change.Id. 8. See Borel, 493 F.2d at 1082; see also Ritter, supra, note 1.Mr. Ritter reports that: [more than 200,000 asbestos injury claims are pending in Federal and state courts.Thousands of new cases are filed every year against companies involved in mining and processing asbestos.... Grace officials now acknowledge that asbestos from the mine caused lung disease in Libby, Montana, but they deny that the company knew of the dangers but did not tell workers.Mining vermiculite ore, breaking it and crushing it, separating it by size, heating it to produce a type of commercial insulation, packing it for shipping-all these processes created a staggering amount of very fine dust laced with asbestos.Not only did the miners breathe the dust all day, they brought it home on their clothes and in their vehicles.When the kids gave dad a hug, they got a dose of asbestos.Wives did the laundry and shook out the clothes, and the dust spread.One of the unfortunate ironies here is that the asbestos was of no use at all to Grace, which spent a lot of money trying to figure out how to market tremolite from the asbestos processing but found no commercial use.In the end, it was just waste.Id. 9.