To recover damages in a lawsuit, a plaintiff must demonstrate that a breach of duty was the _____ of their damages.

To recover damages in a lawsuit, it is essential for the plaintiff to establish that the breach of duty directly relates to their damages through a legal concept known as "proximate cause." Proximate cause refers to a primary factor that is closely connected to the harm that occurred, ensuring that the breach of duty is not just a part of a chain of events, but an essential and determinative connection to the injuries suffered.

This doctrine helps to limit liability to those harms that are a foreseeable result of the defendant's actions. In legal terms, establishing proximate cause means showing that the damages were a natural and probable consequence of the breach and that they could be reasonably anticipated by the party who breached the duty. This relationship allows the court to rule that the defendant is legally responsible for the resulting damages, linking their actions directly to the harm experienced by the plaintiff.

Other options may discuss different aspects of causation but do not fully capture the legal requirement needed to prove a direct connection between the breach and the damages in the context of liability.