Roberts v. Mars Hill University (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-110-17, 8 pp.) (Chris Dillon, J.) Appealed from Madison County Superior Court (J. Thomas Davis, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Although campus police were often called to plaintiff’s dormitory, those incidents were ...

Tagged with: proximate cause

Fields v. Fields (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-16-0781, 22 pp.) (Martha Geer, J.) Appealed from New Hanover County Superior Court (Phyllis Gorham, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: In a letter, plaintiff’s decedent’s doctor said that “the post-traumatic stress brought on by ...

Tagged with: proximate cause

Atkinson v. Carolina Radiology Consultants, P.A. Over plaintiff’s objection, the trial court instructed the jury, “Proximate cause is a cause in which a natural and continuous sequence produces a person’s injury and death and is a cause which a reasonable prudent health care provider could have foreseen would probably produce such injury and death.” Since this instruction would hold defendants responsible only where defendant Clark could have foreseen the exact injury ultimately suffered by plaintiff, the instruction was contrary to prior opinions of our Supreme Court.

Tagged with: Foreseeability Jury Instructions Medical Malpractice proximate cause Tort/Negligence Wrongful Death

Atkinson v. Carolina Radiology Consultants, P.A. Over plaintiff’s objection, the trial court instructed the jury, “Proximate cause is a cause in which a natural and continuous sequence produces a person’s injury and death and is a cause which a reasonable prudent health care provider could have foreseen would probably produce such injury and death.”

Tagged with: Foreseeability Jury Instructions Medical Malpractice proximate cause Tort/Negligence Wrongful Death

State v. Marslender An eyewitness testified that defendant’s truck passed her just as she was beginning to slow down because of heavy rain. She saw the truck go out of control due to, she thought, overcompensating. In addition to defendant’s 0.12 blood alcohol content, this was sufficient evidence that defendant’s impaired driving was the proximate cause of the accident that killed his passenger.

Tagged with: Criminal Practice Malice other bad acts Prior Convictions proximate cause

Cook v. Riley Defendants responded to a domestic disturbance call and found plaintiff in a tree stand 15 feet off the ground. According to defendants, plaintiff threatened to cut his wrists, so defendants tased him, and plaintiff then jumped off the tree stand. According to other witnesses, plaintiff did not have a knife, and he fell as a result of being tased. The court is not required to disregard the other witnesses’ statements in determining the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury.

Tagged with: Civil Rights proximate cause Taser Tort/Negligence

Day v. Brant Even though plaintiffs’ proximate cause expert agreed on cross-examination that assigning percentages to a patient’s survival changes was “speculation”, the expert’s testimony as a whole was sufficient to get to the jury on the issue of proximate cause. We reverse the trial court’s grant of a directed verdict for defendants.

Tagged with: Civil Practice directed verdict Medical Malpractice proximate cause standard of care Tort/Negligence

Carsanaro v. Colvin A person who knows, or should know, that he or she is infected with a venereal disease has the duty to abstain from sexual conduct or, at the minimum, to warn those persons with whom he or she expects to have sexual relations of his or her condition. Since a spouse is a foreseeable sexual partner, this duty is also owed to the spouse of any of the infected person’s sexual partner, if the spouse is known or should have been known to the infected person at the time of the sexual intercourse. The infected person can be liable in tort for breaching this duty.

Tagged with: Duty first impression Foreseeability proximate cause

State v. Leonard Although defendant argues that it was his attempt to elude arrest, rather than his drunk driving, that led to the victim’s serious injury, there can be more than one proximate cause of an injury. There was sufficient evidence from which a jury could reasonably find that defendant’s drunk driving was a proximate cause of the victim’s injury: defendant was consuming alcohol on the evening of Jan. 16, 2009; he got into an altercation with his girlfriend and her family, got into his vehicle, drove it into his girlfriend’s car, refused to pull over for the police, drove the car faster than the speed limit, proceeded through a red traffic light, and collided with the victim’s vehicle; officers who responded to the incident said defendant had a strong odor of alcohol and appeared impaired; and defendant stipulated to a blood alcohol concentration of .10. We find no error in defendant’s convictions of felonious serious injury by motor vehicle, felonious operation of a motor vehicle to elude arrest, and misdemeanor hit and run.

Tagged with: Criminal Practice dwi Felony proximate cause reckless driving Speeding to Elude Arrest

First the yellow jackets attacked. But that wasn't the worst part. A city of Raleigh employee who was stung 30 times while in the course of his work duties became lightheaded after the stings, and when he left work, he drove off the road and into a tree. The employee didn't remember the accident, and a police investigation found no skid marks and said he had not even applied the brakes before impact. So is the injury from the car crash - a fractured ankle - compensable? The N.C. Industrial Commission said yes, and in an unpublished opinion filed Jan. 4, the N.C. Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.

Tagged with: auto accident proximate cause Workers Compensation wreck