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Negligence: Superseding Cause
Amanda Rhodes
Liberty University
GOV 280-B02: Tort Law
Professor Jennifer Riedthaler-Williams
February 6, 2023
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Negligence: Superseding Cause
Introduction
Marilyn ran over Lucinda, negligently, resulting in Lucinda’s leg being broken.
Thereafter, Lucinda slipped, fell and broke her arm while learning to use her crutches. The
question that has arisen in this instance is whether Lucinda’s fall is considered to be a
superseding cause to her broken arm or not.
Superseding Cause or Not
Regarding Lucinda’s slip and fall, it could be assumed that she was walking carefully on
the crutches to avoid further injury (Edwards, 2016, p.121). Upon further review of the incident
description, and to answer the question at hand, Lucinda’s additional injury is considered a
superseding cause. She was not walking carefully on her crutches, and she was further acting
negligently by accepting a dare to walk along a narrow walkway on crutches (Edwards, 2016, p.
121). That decision could be deemed senseless and the broken arm is just an unfortunate
repercussion of her neglect.
An further example of a superseding cause is stated in
Conclusion
In conclusion, while Marilyn did commit the initial act and is responsible for running
over Lucinda, Marilyn can verify that Lucinda’s “actions were the actual and factual cause” of
her arm break (Edwards, 2016, p.152).
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References
Edwards, J.S. (2016). Tort Law, 6th Ed. Cengage Learning.
Weiman, D. (2018) “The McDonald’s Coffee Case.” Huffpost. Retreived from
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-mcdonalds-coffee-case_b_14002362
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Staff, Findlaw. (2022, December 16). The McDonald's Coffee Cup case: Separating mcfacts
from mcfiction. Findlaw. Retrieved from
https://www.findlaw.com/injury/product-liability/the-mcdonald-s-coffee-cup-case-
separating-mcfacts-from-mcfiction.html
