Actual cause, also known as cause in fact, is straightforward. b. . See 'But for' test, Negligence, 'Substantial factor' test. Want to learn more? See under Proximate. Proximate cause is used in civil and criminal cases, and are frequent in personal injury legal cases. The action is a necessary condition, but may not be a sufficient condition, for the resulting injury. proximate cause. Determining Proximate Cause Through Different Rules. Proximate cause means legal cause, or one that the law recognizes as the primary cause of the injury. Proximate Cause Proximate Cause; Proximate Cause Definition. PROXIMATE CAUSE . It refers to the foreseeability of that injury taking place. A proximate cause is an event which is closest to, or immediately responsible for causing, some observed result. See Christen v. Lee, 113 Wn.2d 479, 507, 780 P.2d 1307 (1989); Hartley v. State, 103 Wn.2d 768, 777, 698 P.2d 77 (1985), and cases cited therein. Most people chose this as the best definition of proximate-cause: See cause.... See the dictionary meaning, pronunciation, and sentence examples. This exists in contrast to a higher-level ultimate cause (or distal cause) which is usually thought of as the "real" reason something occurred. Proximate cause in workers' compensation is not the same as proximate cause in negligence cases. In law, a proximate cause is an event sufficiently related to an injury that the courts deem the event to be the cause of that injury. It is important that courts establish proximate cause in personal injury cases because not everyone nor … The proximate cause of an injury is that which, in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces an injury, and without which the injury would not have occurred. 1: next immediately preceding or following (as in a chain of causation, events, or effects) : being or leading to a particular especially foreseeable result without intervention — see also proximate cause at … Example: Why did the ship sink? proximate cause (plural proximate causes) An event which, in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces an injury, and without which the injury would not have occurred. Proximate Cause. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. 15.01 Proximate Cause--Definition . Proximate Cause Definition: The most direct, effective or substantial cause of a tort; relevant where the negligence of more than one person contributed. Proximate cause relates to the relationship between an event and an injury. Noting that accidents can have more than one proximate cause, the court refused, despite the crashworthiness doctrine, to retreat from the "longstanding rule that a plaintiff's negligence is a complete bar to recovery if it contributes to his injuries. All contents of the lawinsider.com excluding publicly sourced documents are Copyright © 2013-. Proximate cause means a cause that was a substantial factor in bringing about an [injury] [occurrence] [injury] [occurrence or injury], and without which cause such [injury] [occurrence] [injury] [occurrence or injury] would not have occurred. Proximate Cause — (1) The cause having the most significant impact in bringing about the loss under a first-party property insurance policy, when two or more independent perils operate at the same time (i.e., concurrently) to produce a loss. A few circumstance… event without which an injury would not have occurred. Definition. Proximate cause consists of both cause in fact and foreseeability. proximate cause meaning: something that is considered to be the direct cause of damage, loss, or injury: . Proximate cause is a question of foreseeability – where the result is a foreseeable result of the actions of the tortfeasor. [It need not be the only cause, nor the last or nearest cause. This means understanding if the injury would occur but for the action or lapse of the defendant. Related Terms: Causa Proxima Et Non Remota Spectatur. A cause which immediately precedes and produces the effect, as distinguished from the remote, mediate, or predisposing cause. An actual cause that is also legally sufficient to support liability. n. a happening which results in an event, particularly injury due to negligence or an intentional wrongful act. In personal injury law, proximate cause is the primary cause of injury in an accident. "(11) Define Proximate cause. Proximate causes include hereditary, developmental, structural, cognitive, psychological, and physiological aspects of … When a bus strikes a car, the bus drivers actions are the actual cause of the accident. means that cause which, in a natural and continuous sequence, produces an event, and without which cause such event would not have occurred. It may not be the first event that set in motion a sequence of events that led to an injury, and it may not be the very last event before the injury occurs. Learn more. In tort law, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant’s conduct caused or … https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Proximate+cause, We may say, speaking somewhat roughly, that a stimulus applied to the nervous system, like a spark to dynamite, is able to take advantage of the stored energy in unstable equilibrium, and thus to produce movements out of proportion to the, The Alabama Supreme Court, however, has ruled that foreseeability alone is not a sufficient basis for liability and that a plaintiff must also prove by substantial evidence that the mental health professional breached the applicable standard of care and that this breach was a, Neighborhood Housing Services, the court noted that, in order to recover under the Scaffold Law, there must be some evidence that a violation of the law by the contractor or owner was the, Applying what it claimed were general tort principles and noting that there can be more than one, "Especially troubling is what I view as the majority giving petitioner a pass on the element of, It concluded that the claimant's violation of a known safety rule was the, On the dram-shop claim, the court decided as a matter of law that the claim failed on the element of, Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary, the webmaster's page for free fun content, Before liability can be imposed, plaintiff must show not only that a patient's suicide was foreseeable, but also establish the applicable standard of care, that the psychiatrist breached this standard, and that the breach was a proximate cause of the suicide, LL240: court validates 'recalcitrant workers' defense, The minority gets it right: the Florida Supreme Court reinvigorates the crashworthiness doctrine in D'Amario v. Ford, Landlord's security promises opened door to lawsuit, The legal principles in lost profits cases, Part 2, Admission of safety violation forecloses recovery, Police probing death of Pangasinan boy allegedly mauled by playmates, Proximate, Unforeseeable, and Remote Cause, A cause which immediately precedes and produces the effect, as distinguished from the. Proximate cause is the primary cause of an injury. It is an act or omission that is considered in law to result in a consequence, so that liability can be imposed on the actor. It is the cause that directly produces an event. Proximate Cause Law and Legal Definition A proximate cause is one that is legally sufficient to result in liability. Proximate cause has two elements: cause in fact and foreseeability. Cause-in-fact is determined by the "but for" test: But for the action, the result would not have happened. Proximate cause is defined as that cause, which, in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces the injury, and without which the result would not have occurred. Translations . Proximate cause refers to the first event, or first peril, in a series of events that cause damage in an insurance claim. Improve your vocabulary with … Proximate cause "is that cause which in the natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by an efficient intervening cause, produces the injury and without which the injury would not have occurred." Proximate cause synonyms, Proximate cause pronunciation, Proximate cause translation, English dictionary definition of Proximate cause. If someone’s actions are a remote cause of your injury, they are not a proximate cause. Elements of proximate cause. An act from which an injury results as a natural, direct, uninterrupted consequence and without which the injury would not have occurred. something that is considered to be the direct cause of damage, loss, or injury: The proximate cause of the disaster was a piece of metal lying on the runway. It is sufficient if it combines with another cause … The proximate cause itself may not do any direct damage. Proximate cause refers to a direct cause of loss, without which the loss would not occur; therefore, it is a highly relevant principle in the insurance industry. A crime or act of negligence that is so linked to the resulting injury that the law considers it the legal cause of the injury, even if the injury would not have happened but for some other event. But even if you’re geared with a legal definition of proximate cause, it doesn’t make understanding this complex Arizona law any easier. Malpractice An element required to prove negligence; the plaintiff–Pt or Pt's estate must prove that the Pt's injury is reasonably connected to the physician's action, through either the 'but for' test or the 'substantial factor' test. It is not necessarily the closest cause in time or space nor the first event that sets in motion a sequence of events leading to an injury. Proximate cause under Washington law recognizes two elements: cause in fact and legal causation. The proximate cause is essentially that initial event that triggered the claim and need not be the event that immediately preceded the loss. The insurance policy may cover the proximate cause, but not the event that actually causes the damage, so the policy holder will not be reimbursed for his claim. Proximate cause is an act, whether intentional or negligent, that is determined to have caused someone else’s damages, injury, or suffering. Proximate Cause; Proximate Cause. Instead, it is an action that produced foreseeable consequences without intervention from anyone else. For an act or event to be considered a proximate cause, it does not necessarily have to directly precede a loss or begin a chain of occurrences leading to the same. Although many actual causes can exist for an injury (e.g., a pregnancy that led to the defendant's birth), the law does not attach liability to all the actors responsible for those causes. (For example, but for running the red light, the collisionwould not have occurred.) …best understood by differentiating its proximate cause (that is, how the behaviour arises in animals) from its ultimate cause (that is, the evolutionary history and functional utility of the behaviour). In other wor… Proximate cause is the direct or apparently obvious cause of an event; directly produces the effect. There are two types of causation in the law: cause-in-fact, and proximate (or legal) cause. Proximate cause requires the plaintiff’s harm to be a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s wrongful action. However, if your injury would not have occurred “but for” the actions of another, then usually you can … When I use the expression “proximate cause,” I mean a cause that, in the natural or ordinary course of events, produced the plaintiff's injury. The actions of the person (or entity) who owes you a duty must be sufficiently related to your injuries such that the law considers the person to have caused your injuries in a legal sense. In every tort, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant was not only the actual cause of the injury, but also the proximate cause of the injury. ‘the fact that a storm may show up the poor condition of a flat roof does not signify that storm was the proximate cause of damage to it’ More example sentences ‘So, its causal relationship with the primary negligence is very proximate and most immediate, in our submission.’ All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. Certain states take into consideration the “but for” rule for proximate cause. Proximate cause means the active, efficient cause that sets in motion a train of events which brings about a result, without the intervention of any force started and working actively from a new and independent source. That which in ordinary natural sequence produces a specific result, no independent disturbing agencies intervening. 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