jhl perhaps means something similar to my take on:

"Our first response to someone's bad news is "I'm sorry", as though we feel that someone should take responsibility"

"I'm sorry" is an expression of sympathy that I [we] care that the someone has had bad news. That we choose to care, not that we are responsible.

I experience this category error fairly often in everyday conversation, "don't be sorry, "it's not your fault." I wonder about the projection going on in these situations.