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Tort/Negligence – Dormitory Assault – Foreseeability – Proximate Cause
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 distinguishable from the attack on plaintiff, which occurred after plaintiff reacted to being the victim […]
Tort/Negligence — Auto Accident – Proximate Cause – Stroke – Damages – Knee Injury
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 the accident contributed to his Acute Cerebrovascular accident”; however, in his deposition, the doctor said […]
Tort/Negligence – Medical Malpractice — Wrongful Death – Jury Instructions – Proximate Cause – Foreseeability – ‘Injury & 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.” Since this instruction would ho[...]
Tort/Negligence – Medical Malpractice — Wrongful Death – Jury Instructions – Proximate Cause – Foreseeability – ‘Injury & 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.”
Criminal Practice – DWI & Second-Degree Murder – Proximate Cause – Prior Convictions – Malice – Other Bad Acts
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 [...]
Civil Rights – Excessive Force Claim – Proximate Cause — TASER – Threatened Self-Injury – Tort/Negligence
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 t[...]
Tort/Negligence – Medical Malpractice – Standard of Care – Proximate Cause – Civil Practice – Directed Verdict
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.
Tort/Negligence – Negligent Infliction of Sexually Transmitted Disease – Duty – Proximate Cause – Subsequent, Intervening Cause – Foreseeability – First Impression
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’[...]
Criminal Practice – Felonious Serious Injury by Motor Vehicle – DWI – Proximate Cause — Speeding to Elude Arrest – Felony – Reckless Driving
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 a[...]
Injuries from wreck triggered by yellow jacket stings compensable
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 impa[...]
Criminal Practice – Second-Degree Murder – Malice – Proximate Cause – ‘Ingestion’ Under G.S. § 14-17 – Double Jeopardy
State v. Parlee. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-07-0025, 12 pp.) (Sanford L. Steelman Jr., J.) Appealed from Iredell County Superior Court. (Joseph Crosswhite, J.) N.C. App. Click here for the full text of the opinion. Holding: The defendant knew that Oxymorphone was an inherently dangerous drug and acted with malice when he supplied the pill to […]
Criminal Practice – Death by Vehicle – Proximate Cause – Intoxication – Contributory Negligence
State v. Lee. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-16-0003, 6 pp.) (Rick Elmore, J.) Appealed from Onslow County Superior Court. (W.A. Cobb Jr., J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Click here for the full text of the opinion. Holding: Defendant’s was the third car to encounter the victim in the roadway but the only one to hit her. Although […]
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