CHARGE 6.14 — PAGE 1 OF 3
6.14 PROXIMATE CAUSE — WHERE THERE IS CLAIM OF
INTERVENING OR SUPERSEDING CAUSE FOR JURY’S
CONSIDERATION (Approved 08/1999; Revised 09/2021)
NOTE TO JUDGE
This charge should be given in conjunction with Model Civil Charge
6.12 or 6.13 where there is also a jury question as to whether an
intervening or superseding cause brought about the injury or harm.
In this case, [name of defendant or other party] claims that the
accident/incident/event or plaintiff’s injury/loss/harm was caused by an independent
intervening cause and, therefore, that [name of defendant or other party] was not a
contributing factor to the accident/incident/event or injury/loss/harm.
An intervening cause is the act of an independent agency that destroys the
causal connection between the defendant’s [or other party’s] negligence and the
accident/incident/event or injury/loss/harm. To be an intervening cause, the
independent act must be the immediate and sole cause of the accident/incident/event
or injury/loss/harm. The intervening cause must be one that so completely
supersedes the operation of [name of defendant or other party]’s negligence that
you find that the intervening event caused the accident/incident/event or
injury/loss/harm, without [name of defendant or other party]’s negligence
