Opinion ID: 1540571
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Delaware Statute Comparative Negligence of Children and Adults

Text: This Court has interpreted the Delaware comparative negligence statute as contemplating an apportionment of negligence based upon proximate causation. See Koutoufaris v. Dick, Del.Supr., 604 A.2d 390, 398 n. 6 (1992) (stating that secondary assumption of risk, or other forms of plaintiff negligence, to a level greater than a defendant's primary negligence, may constitute proximate cause sufficient to bar recovery) (emphasis added). Pursuant to the Delaware statute, the apportionment of comparative negligence is a separate consideration which should be examined by the trier of fact only after the elements of each actor's individual negligence (duty, breach of duty, and proximate causation) have first been determined. See Culver v. Bennett, Del.Supr., 588 A.2d 1094, 1099 (1991). That is, after the trier of fact finds that two or more actors were independently negligent, the amount of negligence attributed comparatively to each actor is determined based upon the extent to which their respective negligent conduct contributed to the occurrence of the harmful event. 10 Del.C. § 8132. Thus, the Delaware comparative negligence statute apportions liability on the basis of the extent of each actor's contribution to the injurious result, i.e. proximate causation. Proximate causation is predicated upon an objective analysis of the circumstances surrounding the actions of one or more persons, to determine whether without such action the injury would not have occurred. It follows logically that a single objective standard should be applied under Delaware law in the apportionment of comparative negligence between two or more proximate causes of an injury. Consequently, although the negligence of children and adults is determined by a separate standard of care, no separate standard is applicable to children in apportioning the relative causative effect of an adult's and a child's combined negligence under the Delaware comparative negligence statute. 10 Del.C. § 8132.