Opinion ID: 1347493
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendants contend the trial court, as a matter of law, should have determined the acts and conduct of Peterman constituted an intervening cause.

Text: In so doing they, in effect, take the position negligence, if any, on the part of Mariann Sue McCalla was insulated from any causal connection with the death of plaintiff's decedent by reason of the negligence of Peterman, which was an efficient intervening force and superseding cause of the second impact. The stand so taken by defendants is without merit under the factual situation here presented. We are dealing with one phase of proximate cause. See Annos. 100 A.L.R.2d 944. In Chenoweth v. Flynn, 251 Iowa 11, 16, 99 N.W.2d 310, this court said: `Proximate cause' is any cause which in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces the result complained of and without which the result would not have occurred. McClure v. Richard, 225 Iowa 949, 282 N.W. 312. `Proximate cause' is a primary moving cause or predominating cause from which the injury follows as a natural, direct and immediate consequence and without which it would not have occurred. Daly v. Illinois C. R. Co., 248 Iowa 758, 80 N.W.2d 335. It is not necessary to a defendant's liability that the consequences of his negligence should have been foreseen, and it is sufficient if the injuries are the natural, though not necessary or inevitable, result of the wrong. Cowman v. Hansen, 250 Iowa 358, 92 N.W.2d 682. In this connection see also Klunenberg v. Rottinghaus, 256 Iowa 731, 739, 129 N.W.2d 68; Ness v. H. M. Iltis Lumber Co., 256 Iowa 588, 593, 128 N.W.2d 237; and Lockwood v. Wiltgen, 251 Iowa 484, 490, 101 N.W.2d 724. And in Restatement, Second, Torts, section 447, the proximate cause rule as it relates to intervening acts is stated as follows: The fact that an intervening act of a third person is negligent in itself or is done in a negligent manner does not make it a superseding cause of harm to another which the actor's negligent conduct is a substantial factor in bringing about, if (a) the actor at the time of his negligent conduct should have realized that a third person might so act, or (b) a reasonable man knowing the situation existing when the act of the third person was done would not regard it as highly extraordinary that the third person had so acted, or (c) the intervening act is a normal consequence of a situation created by the actor's conduct and the manner in which it is done is not extraordinarily negligent. Referring again to Chenoweth v. Flynn, 251 Iowa 11, 17-18, 99 N.W.2d 310, we there said: It is a rule too well established to require the citation of authority, that the question of proximate cause is generally for the jury to determine, although the line of demarcation between what is sufficiently proximate and what is too remote is often a thin one. If, upon looking back from the injury, the connection between the negligence and the injury appears unnatural, unreasonable and improbable in the light of common experience, such negligence would be a remote rather than a proximate cause. If, however, by a fair consideration of the facts based upon common human experience and logic, there is nothing particularly unnatural or unreasonable in connecting the injury with the negligence, a jury question would be created. In this connection see also Rule 344(f) (10), R.C. P.; Sayre v. Andrews, Iowa, 146 N.W.2d 336, 343-344; Mass v. Mesic, 258 Iowa 1301, 142 N.W.2d 389, 392; Lockwood v. Wiltgen, 251 Iowa 484, 490-492, 101 N.W.2d 724; Knaus Truck Lines, Inc. v. Commercial Freight Lines, 238 Iowa 1356, 1366, 29 N. W.2d 204; McClure v. Richard, 225 Iowa 949, 953, 282 N.W. 312; Gray v. City of Des Moines, 221 Iowa 596, 599, 265 N.W. 612, 104 A.L.R. 1228; Godbey v. Grinnell Electric & Heating Co., 190 Iowa 1068, 1074, 181 N.W. 498; and Liming v. Illinois Cent. Ry. Co., 81 Iowa 246, 252, 47 N.W. 66. Touching on this subject the court, in Milwaukee and St. Paul Ry. Co. v. Kellogg, 94 U.S. 469, 24 L.Ed. 256, 259, stated as follows: In the nature of things, there is in every transaction a succession of events, more or less dependent upon those preceding, and it is the province of a jury to look at this succession of events or facts, and ascertain whether they are naturally and probably connected with each other by a continuous sequence, or are dissevered by new and independent agencies, and this must be determined in view of the circumstances existing at the time. Furthermore proximate negligence need not be the sole cause of an injury. Concurrent negligence may be a proximate cause. Klunenberg v. Rottinghaus, 256 Iowa 731, 736, 129 N.W.2d 68; Ruud v. Grimm, 252 Iowa 1266, 1272, 110 N.W.2d 321; Allied Mut. Cas. Co. v. Long, 252 Iowa 829, 834, 107 N.W.2d 682; and Waterloo Sav. Bank v. Waterloo, C. F. & N. R., 244 Iowa 1364, 1372, 60 N.W.2d 572. The factual situation in the case at hand discloses the jury could reasonably find the chain of events was such that the McCalla pickup would not have been in its precarious position on the highway were it not for the first accident, this resulted from Mariann's negligence, and the position of the McCalla vehicle created a hazard which, coupled with the concurrent negligence of Peterman, caused the second death dealing collision. In this regard the jury here determined, upon special interrogatory, Peterman's negligence was not the sole proximate cause of Clara Henneman's death. There is here no rational basis upon which to conclude the trial court erred in refusing to hold, as a matter of law, the negligence of Peterman was an efficient intervening force which constituted a superseding cause of Clara Henneman's death. The foregoing finds ample support in other decisions and authorities. See 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 111(5), page 1216; 38 Am.Jur., Negligence, section 67, page 721; Restatement, Second, Torts, section 435(1); Harper and James, The Law of Torts, section 20.3; and Annos. 58 A.L.R.2d 274-284. We have considered McClure v. Richard, 225 Iowa 949, 282 N.W.2d 312, and Parmenter v. City of Marion, 113 Iowa 297, 85 N.W. 90, cited by defendants, but find they are not factually comparable, and tend to be more favorable to plaintiff than to defendants on relevant principles of law.