What Does It Mean For An Accident To Be The “Proximate Cause” of Injuries?

by Friedman & Ranzenhofer, PC on April 18, 2012

in Buffalo Injury Questions and Answers

In most Buffalo personal injury lawsuits, there are basically three things that the injured party must prove to successfully sue:  (1) that the defendant was negligent, (2) that an injury was suffered, and (3) that the negligence was the cause of the injury.  This third item – the required connection between the negligence and the injury – is referred to as “proximate cause.”

While proximate cause is easily established in many cases, there are circumstances under which it may be in dispute.  This can happen, for example, when more than one person’s negligence created the situation leading to injury.  When this happens, one or more of the parties may argue that while they may have been negligent, it was not their negligence that led to the injury, it was another party’s.  While this may be true in some cases, under New York State law there can be more than one proximate cause to an injury, and all parties whose acts contributed to it may be held responsible.

Proximate cause may also come into dispute when the defendant attempts to point to some other source aside from the accident for the plaintiff’s injuries.  This may occur, for example, when the injured person has received treatment for a prior injury to the same part of the body or where diagnostic examinations reveal possible age-related problems in the area of injury.

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