Court Opinion

ID: 9844443
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:02:55.309034+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:35.349816
License: Public Domain

LUJAN, Justice (dissenting). A careful and exhaustive examination of the record convinces me that the plaintiff failed to establish any causal connection between the defendant’s, City of Hot Springs, alleged negligence and the injury and subsequent death of the deceased. Since proximate cause cannot be presumed from the mere happening of the accident, but like any other essential element, must be established in some manner, either by direct or circumstantial evidence, and since the plaintiff wholly failed to meet the essential requirements, the trial court properly dismissed plaintiff’s complaint. Transgard v. Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co., 24 N.M. 569, 175 P. 280; Navajo Live Stock & Trading Co. v. Gallup State Bank, 26 N.M. 153, 189 P. 1108; Heron v. Gaylor, 46 N.M. 230, 126 P.2d 295; Pentecost v. Hudson, 57 N.M. 7, 252 P.2d 511; In re Miller’s Estate, 300 Mich. 703, 2 N.W.2d 888. The general doctrine is fundamental, that in an action to recover damages resulting from the alleged negligence of another, the plaintiff has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that his injuries were in fact caused by the negligent act of the defendant, and this burden is not sustained merely by proving that an injury occurred or an accident happened. I think the complaint should be dismissed. The majority are of a contrary view, for the reasons given,'! dissent.