Plain English
Jury Instructions
Section 4. Causation
Table of Contents
You must decide if the [accident and/or plaintiff’s injuries] was actually caused by [something name of defendant did or failed to do].
Alternate (1): That is to say, if [name of defendant] had not been negligent, then [name of plaintiff] would not have been hurt.
Alternate (2): That is, without the negligence would [name of plaintiff] have been injured?
Alternate (3): That is, without the negligence, would the accident have happened?
Alternate (4): In other words, had [name of defendant] not [made left turn, set off firecracker, pushed the lady onto the train car, etc.] the [accident/injury] would not have happened.
[Name of defendant] may be liable even if there were other causes for the [accident/plaintiff’s injuries,] but [name of defendant] is only liable if the [name of plaintiff’s [accident, injuries]] would not have occurred but for [name of defendant’s] fault.
Reporter’s Notes
Lavoie v. Pacific Press & Shear Co., 975 F.2d 48 (2d Cir. 1992); Tufts v. Wyand, 148
A negligent act may cause injury for some time. There is no specific time limit. The defendant is responsible for all the results of his negligence until the forces that his negligent act set in motion no longer have any effect. But if the injury is too distant or unrelated to have been caused by the negligence, because the force of the original event has ended, the defendant is not liable.
Reporter’s Notes
Rivers v. State, 133
In this case, the defendant maintains that the plaintiff's injury was not caused by [his/her] original negligent act, but by a later event. You must therefore ask yourselves two questions. First, were the plaintiff’s injuries caused by the defendant’s original negligence? In other words, the effects of the defendant’s original negligence must not have been so weakened that [describe the action or failure to act alleged as the breach of duty] must be considered the cause. Next, was the later event something that the defendant could not have anticipated? If you decide that the answer to both these questions is yes, then the defendant is not responsible for events occurring after the later event.
Reporter’s Notes
Beatty v. Dunn, 103