Court Opinion

ID: 9737193
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:18:34.203256+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:57.128273
License: Public Domain

STRUTZ, Justice
(dissenting).
I join in the very able dissent of Judge Teigen. In addition to what Judge Teigen says, however, I would point out that the defendant’s alleged negligence was not the proximate cause of the injuries suffered by the plaintiff. The plaintiff’s own act was an intervening cause of the injuries of which he complains. Let us assume, for the purpose of argument, that the defendant’s conduct did amount to negligence. Was that conduct the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries? I think not. Defendant’s alleged negligence, at best, created a static condition which would not have harmed the plaintiff. It was the plaintiff’s own rash act of attempting to remove the broken glass long after the accident had occurred that was in fact the cause of plaintiff’s injuries. Plaintiff’s own act was an intervening cause. As we said in Severinson v. Nerby (N.D.), 105 N.W.2d 252, legal responsibility must be limited to those causes which are so closely connected with the result that the law is justified in imposing liability.