Opinion ID: 2606599
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: legal cause proximate cause for liability

Text: The most important and challenging questions in tort law for this case involve issues of proximate cause, such as whether it is proper for jury decision to submit the question of England's recovery from Simmons for causing the head-on collision with Barnes. Vandall, Judge Posner's Negligence-Efficiency Theory: A Critique, 35 Emory L.J. 383, 404 (1986). This appellate court is called to ask if there is evidence in the case from which a jury could be entitled to determine that Simmons' conduct in driving the water truck justifies legal liability for the resulting injury to England. It seems clearly established by the Restatement of Law and general case law that foreseeability is not a factor of proximate cause but instead an element of causal negligence. The term `proximate cause' is applied by the courts to those more or less undefined considerations which limit liability even where the fact of causation is clearly established.    [`Proximate'] is an unfortunate word, which places an entirely wrong emphasis upon the factor of physical or mechanical closeness. For this reason `legal cause' or perhaps even `responsible cause' would be a more appropriate term.             [T]wo contrasting theories of legal cause recur throughout the cases and account for most of the conflict with respect to the choice of a basic theory. One of these theories is that the scope of liability should ordinarily extend to but not beyond the scope of the `foreseeable risks'  that is, the risks by reason of which the actor's conduct is held to be negligent. The second, contrasting, theory is that the scope of liability should ordinarily extend to but not beyond all `direct' (or `directly traceable') consequences and those indirect consequences that are foreseeable.    Another choice of theory concerns the question whether all limitations on the scope of liability of a negligent defendant  apart from defenses and, in some instances, requirements regarding the nature of the harm  will be dealt with under the rubric of `legal cause' (or `proximate cause') or instead some will be dealt with as issues of `duty.' Prosser and Keeton on The Law of Torts, Ch. 7, § 42 at 273-274.    It is simpler, and no doubt more accurate, to state the problem in terms of legal responsibility: is the defendant legally responsible to protect the plaintiff against such unforeseeable consequences of the defendant's own negligent acts?    As to this problem, there are two basic, fundamental, opposing and irreconcilable views, which have been in conflict for more than a century; and each has developed complications of its own.   The first of these positions    [is] that the same criterion of foreseeability and risk of harm which determined whether the defendant was negligent in the first instance should determine the extent of the liability for that negligence; and that no defendant should ever be held liable for consequences which no reasonable person would expect to follow from the conduct. The limitation, in other words, is to foreseeable consequences, and liability is restricted to the scope of the original risk created, with the test of responsibility for the result identical with the test for negligence. Prosser and Keeton on The Law of Torts, supra, § 43 at 281. There remains the opposing view, which has been urged from time to time by a good many writers, that a defendant who is negligent must take existing circumstances as they are, and may be liable for consequences brought about by the defendant's acts, even though they were not reasonably to be anticipated. Or, as it is sometimes put, that what the defendant could foresee is important in determining whether the defendant was negligent in the first instance, but not at all decisive in determining the extent of the consequences for which, once negligent, the defendant will be liable. Id. at 290. Whatever may be the conception of the Wyoming cases as currently reviewed, it is apparent that the final principle which defined the proper scope of appellate review in this case is then stated: Thus, in any case where there might be reasonable difference of opinion as to the foreseeability of a particular risk, the reasonableness of the defendant's conduct with respect to it, or the normal character of an intervening cause, the question is for the jury, subject of course to suitable instructions from the court as to the legal conclusion to be drawn as the issue is determined either way. By far the greater number of the cases which have arisen have been of this description; and to this extent it may properly be said that `proximate cause is ordinarily a question of fact for the jury, to be solved by the exercise of good common sense in the consideration of the evidence of each particular case.' Prosser and Keeton on The Law of Torts, supra, § 45 at 321. Support for this position can be found in the Restatement Second of the Law, Torts 2d: § 430. Necessity of Adequate Causal Relation In order that a negligent actor shall be liable for another's harm, it is necessary not only that the actor's conduct be negligent toward the other, but also that the negligence of the actor be a legal cause of the other's harm. § 431. What Constitutes Legal Cause The actor's negligent conduct is a legal cause of harm to another if (a) his conduct is a substantial factor in bringing about the harm, and (b) there is no rule of law relieving the actor from liability because of the manner in which his negligence has resulted in the harm. § 435. Foreseeability of Harm or Manner of Its Occurrence (1) If the actor's conduct is a substantial factor in bringing about harm to another, the fact that the actor neither foresaw nor should have foreseen the extent of the harm or the manner in which it occurred does not prevent him from being liable. (2) The actor's conduct may be held not to be a legal cause of harm to another where after the event and looking back from the harm to the actor's negligent conduct, it appears to the court highly extraordinary that it should have brought about the harm. This court, by affirming the summary-judgment decision for the defendant, resolved the issue by denying defendant's negligence as a matter of law upon the conflicting evidence. Proximate cause or legal cause devolving from concurrent or intervening events were not presented as a basis for the decision. However, if foreseeability or lack of cause in fact is to be denied, then liability to England does not exist, whether or not negligent driving is demonstrated. The Wyoming proximate-cause cases, extensive in number, have a trend in uniformity as initially derived from the early opinion of Justice Blume in Lemos v. Madden, 28 Wyo. 1, 200 P. 791 (1921). See also Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States v. Gratiot, 45 Wyo. 1, 14 P.2d 438, 82 A.L.R. 1397 (1932); O'Keefe v. Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, 56 Wyo. 170, 105 P.2d 279 (1940). [2] In one of his last opinions on the subject, Justice Blume included a well-reasoned quotation from Prosser on Torts at 324, involving the status of jury consideration: `If the defendant's conduct was a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff's loss, it follows that he will not be absolved from responsibility merely because other causes, such as the negligence of other persons, have contributed to the result.' If the original wrongdoer `could have anticipated that the intervening act of negligence might, in a natural and ordinary sequence, follow the original act of negligence, the person first in fault is not released from liability by reason of the intervening negligence of another.' Shearman & Redfield on Negligence, Rev.Ed., Section 38. Phelps v. Woodward Construction Company, 66 Wyo. 33, 204 P.2d 179, 187 (1949). A valuable and comprehensive discussion of causation is to be found in Keeton, Causation, 28 S.Tex.L.J. 231 (1986), and is summarized at pp. 231-232:    There are four elements in a claimant's prima facie case of negligence. These generally recognized elements are: (1) a duty of reasonable care, (2) a breach of that duty, (3) proximate causation, and (4) damages. An explanation of the terms duty and breach of duty is necessary to identify the issues underlying each of the elements and the problems arising in connection with proximate cause.       Generally, two elements are required to establish that the negligence of a defendant is the proximate cause of a plaintiff's injury: factual causation and legal causation. Factual causation refers to the requirement that the act and the injury be related. Legal causation refers to the requirement that the act and the injury be reasonably related. In Phelps v. Woodward, supra, the court considered the liability of the utility for a shallow gas line later hit by a digging contractor. The jury-trial right was confirmed on appeal. If a gas pipe, inadequately buried and then negligently struck, can create a jury issue, so also the instant facts should similarly serve. I postulate this dissent on a very simple inquiry: If a slow-moving vehicle fails to yield in violation of statutory driving responsibilities, and thereby causes a negligently passing vehicle to injure a third party, is a jury issue of liability created? The court misplaces reliance on Brockett v. Prater, supra, 675 P.2d at 640, wherein the court said in general context: Appellee's failure to stop after she saw the car run the stop sign was not negligence as a matter of law. In this case reasonable minds could differ as to who was negligent, the extent of that negligence, and whether it was a proximate cause of the accident. The jury, as fact finder, could properly choose to believe the testimony of appellee and that of the corroborating eyewitness and reject the opinion of appellant's expert. Upon the disputed facts and evidence, they could find that appellee was not guilty of negligence that proximately caused the accident. The citation in that case as to the duty to anticipate conduct, Gulf Oil Corp. v. Daniels, Okl., 449 P.2d 884 (1969), relates to the relationship between the initial participants and not to responsibility to an innocent third party evolving from the mutual interaction of the first two. That court correctly ascribed the fact-finding function to the jury, and refused to rule as a matter of law. Citations and authority of concurrent negligence and third-party injury were not involved. See 1 Blashfield Automobile Law and Practice, § 53.8 at 392, and § 53.9 at 398. Negligence of the driver of either the lead vehicle or a following vehicle can be ruled as a matter of law only where reasonable persons could not differ on that issue. Similarly, that such negligence constituted a proximate cause of a collision or injury may be ruled as a matter of law only where reasonable persons could not differ on that issue. 2 Blashfield Automobile Law and Practice, § 113.2 at 667. See Annot., 100 A.L.R.2d 942, Foreseeability as an element of negligence and proximate cause. In Swearngin v. Sears Roebuck & Company, 376 F.2d 637, 642 (10th Cir.1967), the Court of Appeals said: `   [I]t is generally held, regardless of whether the question of foreseeability is treated as a problem of duty, negligence, or proximate cause, that it is not necessary that the defendant might or should have foreseen the likelihood of the particular injury or harm, the extent of the harm, or the manner in which it occurred, but that it is only necessary that he should have anticipated that some injury or harm might result from his conduct.' 100 A.L.R.2d 980; Rowell v. City of Wichita, 162 Kan. 294, 176 P.2d 590 (1947) and Atherton v. Goodwin, 163 Kan. 22, 180 P.2d 296 (1947) cited as authority. See City of Scottsdale v. Kokaska, 17 Ariz. App. 120, 495 P.2d 1327 (1972); Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Whiddon, 108 Ga. App. 106, 132 S.E.2d 237 (1963); and Rikstad v. Holmberg, 76 Wash.2d 265, 456 P.2d 355 (1969). Cf. Daniel v. Matthews, 46 Ala.App. 568, 246 So.2d 457 (1971); Polasek v. Quinius, Tex.Civ.App., 438 S.W.2d 828 (1969). I conclude that a factual conflict existed regarding the contendably negligent driving of Simmons. Consequently, that claim of negligence raises an issue of fact for jury decision for determination whether that negligence, if found, did constitute a legal cause of damages sustained by England. Otherwise the jury of society might come to again agree with Professor Lambert in his discussion about another aspect of tort liability, as paraphrased, that The rule operated to deny recovery for perfectly foreseeable consequences of admitted negligence. It was bad morals    [bad driving], bad social engineering, and bad law, feeble in its rationale and inexcusably retrograde in the result. Lambert, Touchstones of Tort Liability, 33 American Trial Lawyers Journal 378, 388 (1970). I would reverse and remand for trial.