Multiple causes and stacked inferences

This Comment addresses Professor Dillbary’s claim that the res ipsa loquitur doctrine is a form of stacked inferences that is likely to reduce the parties’ incentive to take care and to result in more accidents. Using a simple model, Professor Dillbary shows that the parties would depart from the due care standard because of the application of res ipsa loquitur. This Comment criticizes the author’s arguments for a more limited application of res ipsa loquitur in cases involving multiple actors.