Opinion ID: 2071528
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: How to Show Proximate Cause in a Crashworthiness Case

Text: The issue of proximate cause is almost always a question for the jury. In order for the proximate cause issue to reach the jury, however, it must be supported by some degree of evidence. A reasoned decision on the question of proximate cause may require understanding and analysis of issues beyond the ken of the typical jury. In such a case, the absence of expert testimony will prevent the issue from ever reaching the jury. [27] The question of proximate cause in this case is the question of which factors were the proximate cause of the decedent's enhanced injuries. Decedent's injuries resulted from an automobile accident occurring at a high rate of speed and involving numerous flips and turns of the automobile end over end for over 300 feet, ending  possibly due to a defective seat restraint system  in the death of the driver. Lindahl contends that the seat design testimony, along with the circumstantial evidence, provided a sufficient basis for the jury to infer that the design defect was the proximate cause of the enhanced injuries, i.e., in this case, death. The forces of this accident upon decedent and the corresponding injuries they would produce, however, are not subjects with which the members of a jury are familiar. [28] Thus, the jurors required the assistance of expert testimony in order to reach a reasoned conclusion on the issue of proximate cause. [29]