Insights Contact Us OUR FIRM OUR ATTORNEYS PRACTICE AREAS OFFICES Shooting Case Dismissed-No Joint Enterprise. Categories Complex Litigation Construction Litigation Firm News General Liability Insurance Coverage Workers' Compensation McCollum Crowley attorneys Tim Masterson and Alexandra Zabinski obtained dismissal in this shooting case. Plaintiff was hit by a stray bullet while defendants were target shooting in a wooded area adjacent to County Rd. 40 in Carver County, Minnesota. The bullet was fired by one of the defendants, but Plaintiff also sued the other two target shooters claiming they were engaged in a “common enterprise” and that all of them were negligent. Finding that each shooter had control over their respective guns as dispositive, the court determined the shooting did not result from a common enterprise. The court also dismissed the claim of negligence asserted against the defendant represented by attorneys Masterson and Zabinski for lack of proximate cause. Specifically, the court confirmed that “but for” is not the standard for determining proximate cause. Under Minnesota law, to be considered a proximate cause, “the act or omission must directly or immediately cause the injury through a natural sequence of events without another independent cause and must be a substantial factor in the harm’s occurrence.” The discharge of the gun in direction of plaintiff was the proximate cause, not any assistance of the other two defendants in setting up the range. CONNECT OUR LOCATIONS MINNESOTA 952-831-4980 COLORADO 303-415-2068 WISCONSIN 715-234-2656 Copyright 2021 © | McCollum Crowley P.A. All Rights Reserved. Legal Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use