Legal Definitions - remote possibility

A remote possibility refers to an event or outcome that, while theoretically capable of occurring, has an extremely low probability of actually happening. It signifies a chance that is so small it is often considered negligible or highly improbable in practical or legal assessments.

Here are some examples illustrating this concept:

• Example 1: Contractual Risk Assessment

  Imagine a company is negotiating a contract to supply specialized parts for a satellite. The buyer insists on a clause that would penalize the supplier if the parts fail due to an unforeseen, catastrophic solar flare that disrupts Earth's magnetic field in an unprecedented way. The supplier's legal team might argue that this scenario represents a remote possibility. While a solar flare is scientifically possible, the likelihood of one occurring with the specific intensity and timing required to cause the claimed failure is so astronomically low that it falls outside the scope of reasonable contractual risk, and therefore should not be a basis for penalties.

• Example 2: Personal Injury Causation

  Consider a situation where a pedestrian trips on a slightly uneven sidewalk, suffering a minor scrape. Years later, they develop an extremely rare, unrelated neurological condition and attempt to sue the city, claiming the initial fall somehow triggered this condition. Medical experts testify that there is no known scientific link between minor trauma and this specific neurological disorder, and any connection would be purely speculative. In this context, the argument that the minor fall caused the severe neurological condition would be considered a remote possibility, making it very difficult to establish legal causation for damages.

• Example 3: Environmental Litigation

  A small, contained leak of a non-hazardous substance occurs at a factory, and the company immediately cleans it up according to all environmental regulations. A local environmental group then sues, claiming there's a remote possibility that, over the course of several centuries, microscopic traces of the substance could migrate through deep geological layers, eventually contaminating a distant, unused aquifer. While theoretically not impossible for any substance to move over vast periods, the scientific evidence suggests the specific substance, soil type, and containment measures make such a long-term, widespread contamination highly improbable. A court might dismiss this claim as based on a remote possibility that does not warrant further legal intervention or remediation.