Opinion ID: 1708200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: proximate cause in nebraska

Text: As to proximate causation, we find that the substantial factor standard harmonizes with Nebraska law. In Nebraska, a defendant's negligence is not actionable unless it is the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries or is a cause which proximately contributed to them. Miles v. Box Butte County, 241 Neb. 588, 489 N.W.2d 829 (1992). The substantial factor test has been used in Nebraska to determine proximate cause. See, Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Center Bank, 202 Neb. 294, 275 N.W.2d 73 (1979); Pendleton Woolen Mills v. Vending Associates, Inc., 195 Neb. 46, 237 N.W.2d 99 (1975); Landmesser v. Ahlberg, 184 Neb. 182, 166 N.W.2d 124 (1969). In addition, where two causes produce a single indivisible injury, joint and several liability attaches. Lindgren v. City of Gering, 206 Neb. 360, 292 N.W.2d 921 (1980); English v. Bruin Engineering, Inc., 201 Neb. 791, 272 N.W.2d 753 (1978); Zavoral v. Pacific Intermountain Express, 181 Neb. 40, 146 N.W.2d 796 (1966). If the effects of a defendant's negligence actively and continuously operate to bring about harm to another, the fact that the active negligence of a third person is also a substantial factor in bringing about the harm does not protect the defendant from liability; furthermore, if the separate and independent acts of negligence by different persons combine to produce a single injury, each participant is liable for the damage, although one of them alone could not have caused the result. Miles v. Box Butte County, supra .