Personal injury law is complex, and the facts you must prove to win differ depending on which type of claim you are asserting. One common thread is present in every personal injury claim—causation. Either the defendant must have caused the injury themself, or they must be in a certain relationship with whoever caused the injury to justify vicarious liability.
The terms “intervening cause” and “superseding cause” refer to events that have the potential to alter liability for the plaintiff’s injury.
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Actual Cause
You must establish actual cause to win a personal injury claim. The actual cause of an injury is its “but-for” cause. In other words, it must be true that you would not have suffered your injury (or your injury would have been less severe) but for the at-fault party’s misconduct.
Proximate Cause
The proximate cause requirement for causation asks the question of whether, given the at-fault party’s misconduct, your injuries were a foreseeable consequence. To establish liability, you must prove proximate cause in addition to actual cause. Freak accidents, however, should not generate liability even if the defendant’s misconduct was the actual cause of the plaintiff’s injury.
Illustrative Case: Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad
The New York case Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad is a good illustration of the application of proximate cause. A man attempted to board a train, with the help of security, while carrying a box filled with fireworks. He fell and dropped the box, causing an explosion. The explosion caused a scale to fall on the other side of the station, injuring the plaintiff. The plaintiff sued the railroad in personal injury.
The court ruled that the woman’s injury was not reasonably foreseeable given the distance between her and the explosion. The railroad thereby escaped liability.
Second Causes: Intervening Cause and Superseding Cause
Intervening causes and superseding causes are secondary causes of an injury that occur after the initial cause. Different courts might characterize the same event as a mere intervening cause or as a superseding cause. All superseding causes qualify as intervening causes, but not all intervening causes qualify as superseding causes. See below for a further explanation.
Intervening Cause
An intervening cause is a second cause, typically (but not always) generated by a third party, that contributes to a personal injury accident. Depending on how seriously it interferes with the chain of causation, an intervening cause may or may not relieve the original defendant from liability. Following are some examples of intervening causes that probably do not amount to superseding cause:
- D causes a car accident that injures P. P’s doctor renders negligent treatment, thereby worsening P’s injuries. D is still liable for P’s injuries, including the injuries arising from medical malpractice. Medical malpractice is a foreseeable consequence of an injury.
- D ‘sics’ their dog on P, causing P to run into the street. P gets hit by a car, and D is liable for these injuries.
- D is a mountain guide who negligently leaves one of his party stranded overnight on a mountain. A rescuer suffers injury trying to rescue P. D is liable for the rescuer’s injuries.
- D negligently injures P. P’s wounds become infected, killing P. D is liable for wrongful death.
- D negligently injures P, and a passerby further injures P through negligent handling of the victim’s body. The passerby’s negligence does not relieve D of liability for all of P’s injuries, including those resulting from negligent mishandling.
It is worth repeating that D is responsible for injuries inflicted by or suffered by a third party. Nevertheless, D might seek contribution from a third party.
Superseding Cause
A superseding cause is a type of intervening cause that is unforeseeable and sufficiently independent to relieve the original defendant of liability for anything that happened after the superseding cause arose. You could say that a superseding cause breaks the chain of causation between the defendant’s act and the harm to the plaintiff. Following are some examples:
- Let’s modify the medical malpractice example above. Suppose that the defendant suffered further injury because the doctor performed surgery on him while voluntarily intoxicated. The doctor’s intoxication is a superseding cause of P’s additional injury.
- P suffered a slip and fall accident in D’s establishment because D negligently failed to remove ice from their parking lot. A third-party passerby, seeing P in trouble, proceeds to beat P and take their money. The beating is a superseding cause.
- P negligently injures D, causing D to convalesce at home. An earthquake hits, burying P beneath the rubble at a time when P would otherwise have been working at an outdoor construction site absent the injury. The earthquake is a superseding cause.
In these cases, D is still liable for the consequences of their own misconduct but not for any injury that arose from the superseding cause.
Borderline Cases
Following are some examples of fact patterns that blur the boundary between mere intervening cause and superseding cause.
- The victim’s own negligence contributed to the injury. This could be a superseding cause or comparative negligence.
- Adverse weather conditions contribute to an accident that is also partly D’s fault.
- D’s negligence causes P to suffer a concussion. A week later, P suffers a blow to the head from a baseball pitch. P dies from “second impact syndrome.” P’s estate files a wrongful death lawsuit against both D and the pitcher.
- D carelessly injures P, leaving P bedridden. P later commits suicide.
- D negligently injures P, and P suffers a severe, unexpected allergic reaction during subsequent medical treatment.
- The victim of a negligent injury chooses a dubious alternative medical treatment that worsens their condition.
- D negligently starts a small fire. A sudden gust of wind expands the fire to life-threatening dimensions, thereby injuring P.
- After suffering an injury, P engages in frequent heavy drinking, thereby exacerbating their medical condition.
- D negligently causes an accident that breaks P’s leg. P, now on crutches, slips in an icy grocery store parking lot, and their injury worsens.
A judge or a jury could go either way in classifying these fact patterns as superseding or merely intervening.
Schedule a Free Initial Consultation With a Miami Personal Injury Lawyer
Almost any Miami personal injury lawyer will offer you a free initial case consultation. Since personal injury lawyers, at least those who work on a contingency fee basis, don’t get paid unless they win, you can be sure of one thing. If they offer to represent you, they believe they can win your case and turn the tables on a party who is blaming you for the accident.
Contact Shaked Law Personal Injury Lawyers call us at (305) 937-0191 to schedule a free case evaluation with an experienced Miami personal injury attorney. We are here to help you with a personal injury case.