Proximate Cause

Category: legal

The primary, legally recognized act or omission that sets off a natural, unbroken chain of events leading directly to an injury or accident.

To establish liability in a tort action, proving actual cause ("but-for" causation) is insufficient; the plaintiff must establish proximate cause, which relies heavily on the concept of foreseeability. If a driver runs a red light and hits a utility pole, causing a power surge that damages a house down the street, running the light is the proximate cause of the property damage because the electrical hazard was a foreseeable result of destroying infrastructure.

Common Examples

• The judge dismissed the third-party liability claim, ruling that the remote equipment malfunction was not the proximate cause of the slip-and-fall incident.
• Establishing proximate cause requires a flawless evidentiary timeline demonstrating that the defendant's safety breach directly precipitated the structural failure.