Opinion ID: 1058885
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to Strike the Evidence

Text: Blue Ridge further contends Saxon failed to establish actionable negligence as a matter of law and thus, the trial court erred in not granting Blue Ridge's motion to strike Saxon's evidence and enter a verdict for Blue Ridge. We review the trial court's decision to deny the motion to strike in accordance with well-settled principles. When the sufficiency of a plaintiff's evidence is challenged by a motion to strike, the trial court should resolve any reasonable doubt as to the sufficiency of the evidence in plaintiff's favor and should grant the motion only when it is conclusively apparent that plaintiff has proven no cause of action against defendant, or when it plainly appears that the trial court would be compelled to set aside any verdict found for the plaintiff as being without evidence to support it. Williams v. Vaughan, 214 Va. 307, 309, 199 S.E.2d 515, 517 (1973) (citations omitted). Examining the evidence in the light most favorable to Saxon, we find that Saxon has failed to establish a prima facie case of negligence against Blue Ridge. The elements of an action in negligence are a legal duty on the part of the defendant, breach of that duty, and a showing that such breach was the proximate cause of injury, resulting in damage to the plaintiff. Trimyer v. Norfolk Tallow Co., 192 Va. 776, 780, 66 S.E.2d 441, 443 (1951). The proximate cause of an event is that act or omission which, in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by an efficient intervening cause, produces the event, and without which that event would not have occurred. Beale v. Jones, 210 Va. 519, 522, 171 S.E.2d 851, 853 (1970). The evidence tending to show causal connection must be sufficient to take the question out of the realm of mere conjecture, or speculation, and into the realm of legitimate inference, before a question of fact for submission to the jury has been made out. Id. It is incumbent on the plaintiff who alleges negligence to show why and how the accident happened, and if that is left to conjecture, guess or random judgment, he cannot recover. Weddle v. Draper, 204 Va. 319, 322, 130 S.E.2d 462, 465 (1963). Because Hiteshew's opinion as to the cause of the fire was inadmissible, Saxon presented no evidence that Blue Ridge breached any duty to Saxon and no evidence of a proximate cause attributable to Blue Ridge. Assuming Saxon proved the fire started in the trash box, it had no evidence, without Hiteshew's opinion, to make the connection to Blue Ridge, as the cause of the fire. This failure of proof represents the absence of a prima facie case of negligence which could be submitted to the jury. Thus, the trial court abused its discretion when it denied Blue Ridge's motion to strike Saxon's evidence. That abuse of discretion was reversible error by the trial court.