Negligence: Proximate Cause

Question 1

What is the purpose of proximate cause?

Answer 1

this is about limiting the defendants liability

Question 2

Liability Limited to reasonably foreseeable consequences

Answer 2

Defendant is liable for ignoring foreseeable risks flowing from breach. (IF the risk was not foreseeable, defendant is not negligent for failing to avoid it)

Question 3

Third Restatement: limitations on liability

Answer 3

An actor’s liability is limit to those harms and that result from the risks that made the actor’s conduct tortious.

Question 4

Direct Cause

Answer 4

natural and probable consequences of an act are within proximate cause; usually the next thing in the timeline

Question 5

Superseding Causes

Answer 5

An act –person or event–that is so bizarre, unexpected, unusual, etc. that it breaks the proximate cause chain. If a superseding cause exists, the defendant is generally not liable at all for the plaintiffs damages.

Question 6

Rescuer Doctrine

Answer 6

so long as the rescuers response is normal, the negligent act will not escape liability for the rescuer’s injuries.

Question 7

Cardozos view on proximate cause

Answer 7

proof of negligence in the air, will not do. The duty we owe to others is defined by the orbit of danger that we create by our act. In other words, the risk that we impose on others defines the people to whom we own a duty. The risk to the plaintiff must be unforeseen and unforeseeable.

Question 8

Andrews view on proximate cause

Answer 8

we owe the world a duty to refrain from acts that might cause harm to others. A foreseeable plaintiff is anyone who was actually hurt by the explosion