What is Proximate Cause in NY Personal Injury Lawsuits? Advice from Accident Injury Attorney Manhattan
If you’ve been injured by the intentional or negligent conduct of someone else, you have the option of holding them accountable by filing a personal injury claim either in court or with the proper insurance company. However, the success of your claim largely depends on you being able to prove several key components, one of which is that the defendant’s action or inaction was the cause of your injuries. In this blog, the accident injury attorney Manhattan team at Gabriel Law will be talking about proximate cause—an essential part of causation—and how it can impact the success of your personal injury case.
What do I have to prove to win a personal injury case?
If you want to successfully prove your personal injury case, you must prove all of the following:
- There was a duty of care between you and the defendant;
- There was a breach of the duty of care by the defendant;
- The aforementioned breach was the cause of the accident; and
- You have suffered damages as a result.
Let’s take a car accident scenario as an example. Drivers have a general duty of care to drive safely on roads to guarantee the safety of pedestrians and other drivers. As such, if a person is driving recklessly or negligently, such as driving at high speed in a zone with a speed limit or running traffic lights at a busy intersection, he is in breach of the duty of care.
If an accident occurs, you must then show that the ‘damages’ you suffered were caused by the breach of the duty of care, linking your damages to the conduct of the defendant. The damages you’ve suffered can range from physical injuries to loss of wages, as well as non-economic damages such as pain and suffering and emotional distress.
What is the proximate cause?
In personal injury matters, the term ‘proximate cause’ is connected to the element of causation. Causation is the connection between the accident that occurred and the injuries you have sustained. Simply put, you must show that the injuries you suffered were the result of the accident that was caused by the defendant’s breach of duty.
In New York, there are two elements of causation—actual cause and proximate cause. You must prove both of these forms to successfully prove “causation” as a whole. Actual cause, or cause-in-fact, is where we use the ‘but for’ test to show that you would not have suffered damages ‘but for’ the misconduct of the defendant.
On the other hand, proximate cause, or legal cause, is where you must show that the damages suffered due to the defendant’s misconduct were foreseeable to an ordinary reasonable man. If there is a spill on the floor and maintenance neglects to clean up the spill and a person subsequently falls and breaks their wrist, the spill is considered the proximate cause of the slip and fall accident.
However, in the case of what are described as “freak accidents,” even if a certain event was the actual cause of the damage, the defendant may not be held liable if it is shown that the occurrence could not have been reasonably foreseen, meaning a failure to establish proximate cause.
Is proximate cause subjective or objective?
There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to what may or may not constitute ‘proximate cause.’ Whether or not something may constitute part of proximate cause entirely depends on the surrounding circumstances of the case, making it a subjective matter.
Conclusion
Causation is an important element of personal injury lawsuits, and establishing both actual cause and proximate cause is essential to prove causation. Since there is no hard and fast rule to determine what may or may not be part of proximate cause, it is a subjective matter. Therefore, you will undoubtedly need the help of an experienced injury attorney in Manhattan to help figure things out. At Gabriel Law, we can help you connect the facts to the law and build a strong case that allows you to fight for the compensation you deserve. Schedule a free consultation with us, and let’s get started right away.
