Proximate Cause in the United States

Proximate Cause Definition

That which, In a natural and continuous sequence, unbrbken by a new cause, produced an event, and without which that event would not have occurred. For a meaning of it, read Proximate Cause in the Legal Dictionary here.

Practical Information

That which, in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any intervening cause, produces an injury, and without which the injury would not have occurred. For example, the failure to repair a faulty brake in an automobile may be the proximate cause of a subsequent collision. (Revised by Ann De Vries, 1982)

Cause Proximate

Prof.Piero Mognoni, from the Università di Milano, wrote:

“A causal event which was both necessary and sufficient to result in injury. There is some confusion in the field as to the distinction between factual and legal causation. Factual causation is properly called cause in fact or causa sine qua non. Legal causation is sometimes refered to as proximate causation. Though a cause be necessary, and thus a cause sine-qua-non it is not always sufficient. Careful use of language here can avoid much confusion. The confusion arises because of complex fact patterns. It can be dispelled with terminological discipline.

While all results require a necessary cause, not all causes are sufficient, and in cases where there are several sufficient causes not all causes are necessary since the other cause/s would be sufficient. For example, imagine a man who takes his two friends hunting. He drives them to the site and leaves. Each of them then negligently shoots the decedent plaintiff mistaking him for a wild animal. Each wound would kill the decedent: each is thus a sufficient cause. However as they are independent causes neither is necessary for the occurrence of the other. As to the driver: his causation is clearly necessar but is itself insufficient. Thus even were he negligent there would be no liability for his causation while factual, i.e. sine qua non, is not also legal, i.e. proximate. Both hunters will be held liable jointly and severally but may also have a claim against each other for indemnification.”

Causation in Negligence

Sometimes known as legal cause, proximate cause must be shown as well as actual cause, so that an act of the defendant will not result in liability if the consequences of the negligent act are too remote or unforeseeable.

This is proximate cause: a cause that is not too remote or unforseeable.

Suppose that the person who was injured was not one whom a reasonable person could have expected to be harmed. Such a situation was presented in one of the most famous US tort cases, Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad (Section 7.5 “Cases”), which was decided by Judge Benjamin Cardozo. Although Judge Cardozo persuaded four of his seven brethren to side with his position, the closeness of the case demonstrates the difficulty that unforeseeable consequences and unforeseeable plaintiffs present. (1)

Meaning of Proximate Cause

In plain or simple terms, Proximate Cause means: What made it happen.

Resources

Notes

“Business and the Legal Environment”, by Don Mayer, Daniel M. Warner and George J. Siedel.

Proximate Cause meaning

Synonym for legal cause or legal causation. See: Causation

Wisniewski v. Great Atlantic & Pac. Tea Co,, 226 Pa.Super. 574, 323 A.2d 744, 748.
Herron v. Smith Bros., 116 Cal.App. 518, 2 P.2d 1012, 1013.

In other Languages

In French: cause proche / cause prochaine. événement anormal se trouvant le plus proche de l´événement accidentel dans une chaîne causal.

In Italian: causa prossimale.
In Spanish: causa próxima.

Proximate Cause