To this day, it is the defining case for insurance bad faith, and yet it is only one of several other multi-million dollar jury judgments won by Ted during his career. 27 0 obj endobj <>15]/P 21 0 R/Pg 37 0 R/S/Link>> <>11]/P 20 0 R/Pg 37 0 R/S/Link>> A licensee cannot serve liquor to an obviously intoxicated person or allow an obviously intoxicated person to remain on the premises longer than thirty minutes after the obvious intoxication becomes known or should become known. The case has some interesting aspects that may relate to legal malpractice and professional liability defense. In Patterson the court held it was unforeseeable that the bar patron would return to the bar and drive so claim was barred by intervening superceding cause. endstream The jury should have been allowed to consider whether or not it was foreseeable that despite the fact the drunk left with a friend driving that he might nonetheless eventually get behind the wheel at some point while still drunk and injure someone. <>stream
It is often contended wrongly by a defendant or his or her insurance in these situations that there was an independent intervening cause that breaks the chain of causation. 14 0 obj The jury returned a verdict of $3,503,494.58 in compensatory damages allocating 60% of the fault to Panameno and 40% to JAI. WPI 15.05 – “A superseding cause is a new independent cause that breaks the chain of proximate causation between a defendant’s negligence and an injury/event. A.R.S. This means that, when a defendant acts negligently and, as a result, the victim requires medical care, the defendant will also face liability for any enhanced injuries the victim received from subsequent medical malpractice. Nor can a licensee serve more than forty ounces of beer to one person at one time for that person's consumption. One such case is State v. Little, 57 Wash. 2d 516, 358 P.2d 120 (1961). 1 The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland recently reviewed a medical malpractice case involving issues of admissible evidence to prove superseding negligence. o Negligently cause broken leg – medical malpractice is foreseeable. x��XɎ7��+��ê� 30 0 obj endobj The distinction to focus on here is that this guy left the bar with a friend and the friend drove him to the friend's house. Part II will discuss cases in which courts have considered superseding cause as a defense against liability for failure to diagnose, setting forth the courts’ justifications for either permitting or rejecting the defense. Rather it ruled the jury should have been given an instruction on intervening superceding cause. (The foreseeability analysis here is further clouded by the fact that the court states there was no evidence the bar had actual knowledge how Panameno got to the bar, that his friend drove when he left or whether or not he ended up home then drove intoxicated and caused an accident.). Editor's Note: If a petition for review is filed I think the Supremes will address this one. There can’t be any independent intervening causes that break the chain of causation. 2007), the intoxicated bar patron was driven home by a bar employee and given her car keys. Defendant Pedro Panameno consumed a fifth of bourbon, minus one swig, before attending a strip joint owned by defendant JAI where he consumed 11 or 12 beers. §4-244(14). <> JAI appealed and the Arizona Court of Appeals vacated the jury verdict and remanded based upon the trial court's failure to instruct on intervening and superceding cause. Ct. Spec. <>1]/P 13 0 R/Pg 37 0 R/S/Link>> THEN Panameno decided to drive drunk. Intervening Acts Need Only Be Foreseeable, Not Negligent or Wrongful, Says the Supreme Court of Georgia by Kevin C. Ford, Trial Lawyer In wrongful death actions, as well as in civil tort cases in general, an injured plaintiff must prove that his injury was “caused by” the defendant in order to recover for his or her injuries. The question which naturally arises is whether the determination of superseding cause in this context is a question for the jury. Intervening and superseding causes—which occur when the action of a third party, or even an act of nature, play a role in causing the plaintiff’s injury—disrupt this so-called "causal chain" and can diminish or even wipe out the defendant's liability, which means intervening and superseding causes can reduce or eliminate your ability to get fair compensation ("damages") for your injuries. App. In this legal malpractice case, the clients do not allege their attorneys argued the wrong legal ... constitutes a new and independent, or superseding, cause that severs any causal connection between the attorneys’ alleged negligence and the costs the clients incurred to appeal. Appligent AppendPDF Pro 6.3 868, 886–87, 107 P.3d 98 (2005). <> <> 35 0 obj Part II will discuss cases in which courts have considered superseding cause as a defense against liability for failure to diagnose, setting forth the courts’ justifications for either permitting or rejecting the defense. The trial judge instructed the jury on the issues of preexisting condition, avoidable consequences, and superseding/intervening causation (a superseding or intervening act is one that breaks the chain of causation linking a defendant’s wrongful act and an injury or harm suffered by a plaintiff – an act that is the immediate and sole cause of the injury or harm), but did not instruct the … So what qualifies as a superseding cause? 50 0 obj endobj A superseding cause is an event or person which interferes with the sequence of events leading from the defendant’s negligent act to the plaintiff’s injury. <>17]/P 21 0 R/Pg 37 0 R/S/Link>> Proximate Cause - Superseding Cause. It was there that Ted acquired the experience, the skills and the special insight into defense strategy that have served him so well in the field of personal injury law. Other jurisdictions do not use the term superseding cause. 5 0 obj <>2]/P 6 0 R/Pg 37 0 R/S/Link>> Doctors, Nurses and Superseding Cause: The Demise of the Last in Time Defense The medical malpractice complications rule states that intervening acts of medical negligence that enhance a tort victim’s original injury are foreseeable as a matter of law.This means that, when a defendant acts negligently and, as a result, the victim requires medical care, the defendant will also face liability for any enhanced injuries the victim received from subsequent medical malpractice. It also rejected a tendered instruction that Dr. Please complete all required fields below. They argue this of course to also deny liability. endobj 2020-10-09T12:37:21-07:00 The court then gave the jury instructions on superseding causation at the conclusion of the trial. This has an effect on who should be held liable for the damages caused by the accident. • Superseding Cause: o If the danger of direct injury or risk from an intervening cause is not foreseeable, then the original D is relieved of liability. endobj He drove off and hit the plaintiff on his scooter causing serious bodily injury. Superseding cause is a defense to negligence. However, there was sufficient evidence for a jury to conclude that Panameno's decision to drive from his friend's house to his girlfriend's house and then from the girlfriend's house to the scene of the accident constituted a superceding intervening cause and the jury should have been so instructed. endobj endobj 25 0 obj Development of the intervening/ superseding cause defense. Like an intervening cause, a superseding cause occurs between the defendant’s action and the plaintiff’s injury, and it is also responsible for the injury. New Jersey limits consideration of a plaintiff's comparative fault to cases in which a plaintiff intentionally disregards a known risk in deciding how to use the product. Baltimore Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog. As a matter of law, the alleged superseding intervening negligence of Dr. Evans and Davis does not absolve Dr. Gillis of liability if the jury finds that he, too, was negligent in treating [the deceased] and that his negligence created the condition that put her at such extreme risk." The division first holds ... intervening cause. Prince 12.5 (www.princexml.com) Causation And Damages In A Medical Malpractice Case. Also, a claim of intervening superseding cause is an affirmative defense that must be pleaded under CR 8.03, for which the defendant bears the burden of proof. Thus, a defendant should presumably be able to argue persuasively against a Deutsch v. Shein instruction proffered by the plaintiff even if a causation defense was protectively pleaded. §4-244(23).1. 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