ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. v. DANIELS Ga. Ct. of App., 8 Ga.App. 775, S.E. 203 (1911). CASE BRIEF

ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. V. DANIELS

Ga. Ct. of App., 8 Ga.App. 775, S.E. 203 (1911)

This is a portion of an opinion in a case that discusses the limits of proximate causation. There is no absolute when dealing with proximate cause. The courts must deal with the issue from the standpoint of and within the scope of ordinary human understanding.

There were no facts and no issues presented other than an excerpt that was probably dicta in the case that was being decided.

LEGAL ANALYSIS: Another name for proximate cause is 'legal cause'. There is the cause in fact which is the description of who is responsible for the injury but then there is the proximate cause; will a person be legally liable for the damages?

Proximate causation: Besides a showing of actual cause, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant should be held legally responsible for his conduct. Proximate cause deals with the foreseeability of the event in three categories: The manner, the result, and the plaintiff.

While many like to say there are no rules for proximate causation, it is an extremely well defined concept with easy to determine results in the vast majority of cases. With all the decisions that have been rendered on negligence, any attempt to cast proximate cause as nebulous or ill-defined is quite disingenuous and rather elitist. Just go to the Tort Outline in Rom Law and look for Proximate cause and you will see an easy to follow decision tree that will be absolutely easy to apply in 99.9999% of all the cases you encounter.

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