Intervening & Superseding Causes In Personal Injury Claims
The two types of causes - intervening or superseding - between the time of the accident and your injuries can greatly affect or obstruct your personal injury claim. In order to get the most out of your personal injury car accident claim, we recommend that you hire a personal injury lawyer in Scarborough to help you in getting the compensation you deserve.
The crucial point of proving fault in any car accident personal injury claim generally boils down to the task of establishing that the other driver was negligent or careless in connection to the said accident. And, after proving the other driver's negligence, your personal injury lawyer in Scarborough must also prove that the defendant's action or inaction caused you your injuries. This is known as proximate cause in legal terms.
Whereas, the intervening as well as superseding causes - which may take place when a third party's action, or an act of nature plays an important role in causing the injuries to the plaintiff - disrupt the chain of actions, thereby diminishing the defendant's liability. In other words, intervening and superseding causes can greatly reduce or even eliminate the plaintiff's ability to get a fair monetary compensation for the damages they have suffered.
What Is a "Superseding Cause"?
Let's take the example of a person trying to get off a bus. Meanwhile, one of the nearby cars runs over the man who was getting off the bus.
However, the man who got in the accident goes on to sue the bus company for failure of providing a safe place for the passengers to deboard the bus. But, in the given situation, the car driver's actions could be considered as a superseding cause of the bus passenger’s injuries. In much simpler terms, in the above-mentioned car accident personal injury lawsuit filed by the bus passenger against the bus company, the company will simply point to the negligence of the car driver as a superseding cause of the injuries of the bus passenger.
What Is an "Intervening Cause"?
In case, after acting negligently toward the injured person, another cause gets combined to the defendant's already existing negligence in order to contribute to or worsen injuries sustained by the plaintiff, the new cause is known as intervening cause. Therefore, one of the key parts of the definition of intervening cause is that it has to take place once the defendant's action or inaction has taken place.
Intervening causes can be the act of another person, known as "third party" or an act of nature - such as a branch falling from a tree or a problem stemming from bad weather. However, the original perpetrator is usually considered to be at least partially at fault for the injuries sustained by the plaintiff despite the fact that an intervening cause may exist.
This all comes down to one particular difference between the two causes - intervening and superseding. In contrast, an intervening cause exempts the original defendant from the liability of the accident; whereas, a superseding cause usually exempts the original defendant from the liability. Proving liability can be a difficult task in such cases, which is why it is recommended that you hire a personal injury lawyer in Scarborough to help you win your claim.
No matter what the cause is - intervening or superseding - you must hire a personal injury lawyer in Scarborough to help you fight your car accident personal injury claim in case you have suffered from injuries in an accident. To read more Click Here
The crucial point of proving fault in any car accident personal injury claim generally boils down to the task of establishing that the other driver was negligent or careless in connection to the said accident. And, after proving the other driver's negligence, your personal injury lawyer in Scarborough must also prove that the defendant's action or inaction caused you your injuries. This is known as proximate cause in legal terms.
Whereas, the intervening as well as superseding causes - which may take place when a third party's action, or an act of nature plays an important role in causing the injuries to the plaintiff - disrupt the chain of actions, thereby diminishing the defendant's liability. In other words, intervening and superseding causes can greatly reduce or even eliminate the plaintiff's ability to get a fair monetary compensation for the damages they have suffered.
What Is a "Superseding Cause"?
Let's take the example of a person trying to get off a bus. Meanwhile, one of the nearby cars runs over the man who was getting off the bus.
However, the man who got in the accident goes on to sue the bus company for failure of providing a safe place for the passengers to deboard the bus. But, in the given situation, the car driver's actions could be considered as a superseding cause of the bus passenger’s injuries. In much simpler terms, in the above-mentioned car accident personal injury lawsuit filed by the bus passenger against the bus company, the company will simply point to the negligence of the car driver as a superseding cause of the injuries of the bus passenger.
What Is an "Intervening Cause"?
In case, after acting negligently toward the injured person, another cause gets combined to the defendant's already existing negligence in order to contribute to or worsen injuries sustained by the plaintiff, the new cause is known as intervening cause. Therefore, one of the key parts of the definition of intervening cause is that it has to take place once the defendant's action or inaction has taken place.
Intervening causes can be the act of another person, known as "third party" or an act of nature - such as a branch falling from a tree or a problem stemming from bad weather. However, the original perpetrator is usually considered to be at least partially at fault for the injuries sustained by the plaintiff despite the fact that an intervening cause may exist.
This all comes down to one particular difference between the two causes - intervening and superseding. In contrast, an intervening cause exempts the original defendant from the liability of the accident; whereas, a superseding cause usually exempts the original defendant from the liability. Proving liability can be a difficult task in such cases, which is why it is recommended that you hire a personal injury lawyer in Scarborough to help you win your claim.
No matter what the cause is - intervening or superseding - you must hire a personal injury lawyer in Scarborough to help you fight your car accident personal injury claim in case you have suffered from injuries in an accident. To read more Click Here