Intervening cause

Intervening cause

An intervening cause is a potential defense to the tort of negligence, if it is an unforeseeable, and therefore "superseding" intervening cause, rather than a "foreseeable" intervening cause.

For example, if a defendant had carelessly spilled gasoline near a pile of cigarette butts in an alley behind a bar, the fact that a bar patron later carelessly threw a cigarette butt into the gasoline would be deemed a foreseeable intervening cause, and would not absolve the defendant of tort liability. However, if the bar patron "intentionally" threw the cigarette butt into the gasoline because he wanted to see it ignite, this intentional act would likely be deemed unforeseeable, and therefore superseding.

Similarly, a foreseeable intervening cause that leads to an unforeseeable result would absolve the defendant of liability.

However, both the act and the injury must be unforeseeable. For instance, if there is a hole in the ground and the contractor fails to place a fence/guard around the hole. Then, a person negligently does not take their medication while driving, and they fall into this hole and hurt the worker inside the hole. The contractor will still be liable for the damage to the worker even in light of the intervening negligent act of not taking the meds. This is because even though the negligent act of the third party is not foreseeable, the fact of injury is foreseeable (another car falling in because there is no guard). This, however, is not a good example because a person working for an employer is covered for his injuries incurred on the job by workers' compensation which coverage renders the employer immune from suit.


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • intervening cause — see cause 1 Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. intervening cause n …   Law dictionary

  • intervening cause — In tort law, as will relieve of liability for an injury, is an independent cause which intervenes between the original wrongful act or omission and the injury, turns aside the natural sequence of events, and produces a result which would not… …   Black's law dictionary

  • intervening cause — In tort law, as will relieve of liability for an injury, is an independent cause which intervenes between the original wrongful act or omission and the injury, turns aside the natural sequence of events, and produces a result which would not… …   Black's law dictionary

  • intervening cause — A cause which supersedes a prior wrong as the proximate cause of an injury by breaking the sequence between the prior wrong and the injury. Mahoney v Beatman, 110 Conn 184, 146 A 762, 66 ALR 1121. The test of the sufficiency of an intervening… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • efficient intervening cause — see cause 1 Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • dependent intervening cause — n. In common law, something that happens in between a defendant’s action and its result that occurs as a normal and predictable response to the defendant’s action; usually a dependent intervening cause does not break the chain of causation and… …   Law dictionary

  • independent intervening cause — A conclusory label used by the common law to refer to a cause that intervenes between the defendant s behavior and a given result such that it is regarded as unfair to hold the defendant responsible for the result. See also intervening cause …   Black's law dictionary

  • independent intervening cause — A conclusory label used by the common law to refer to a cause that intervenes between the defendant s behavior and a given result such that it is regarded as unfair to hold the defendant responsible for the result. See also intervening cause …   Black's law dictionary

  • cause — 1 n 1: something that brings about an effect or result the negligent act which was the cause of the plaintiff s injury ◇ The cause of an injury must be proven in both tort and criminal cases. actual cause: cause in fact in this entry but–for… …   Law dictionary

  • efficient intervening cause — An intervening efficient cause is a new and independent force, which breaks the causal connection between the original wrong and the injury, and is the proximate and immediate cause of the injury. Thus, the original negligent actor is not liable… …   Black's law dictionary

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