Ask any attorney about proximate causation, and their knee-jerk reaction will be to cite Palsgraf v. Long Isl. R.R. Co. The issue of proximate cause can sometimes be elusive, and I have seen it misapplied in decisions, motions, and briefs.
The Appellate Division, First Department's reasoning in Baptiste v. New York City Transit Auth. hits the mark on the proximate cause issue. In Baptiste, the plaintiff safely exited a bus that had gotten stuck in snow. After waiting some 20 minutes for another bus, the plaintiff slipped and injured herself when she attempted to get on the second bus. The plaintiff claimed two things: (1) that the New York City Transit Authority and Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority was negligent in not equipping the bus with snow chains, and (2) the City did not provide the plaintiff a safe place to board the bus.
Among other things, the First Department determined that even if the defendants were negligent by not providing snow chains on the tires, that negligence was not a substantial cause of the plaintiff's accident. The Court observed: "Plaintiff had disembarked from the first bus at least 20 minutes prior to her fall. She was not struck by a bus that did not have snow tires or chains * * *, nor did her injuries result from the bus becoming involved in an accident due to a failure to have snow tires installed on the bus."
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