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The element of legal causation is a core component of every Florida personal injury case.  When a plaintiff files a personal injury lawsuit, he or she is asserting that the defendant is the actual, direct, and substantial cause of the injuries suffered by the plaintiff – whether the defendant acted negligently, recklessly, or intentionally in causing such injuries.  As a personal injury plaintiff, you will need to satisfy this causation element in order to recover damages from the defendant.

Though some of this terminology may be unfamiliar to you, it’s much simpler than you might think.  As a legal concept, causation is quite straightforward.

For example, if a motor vehicle is speeding and rear-ends you at a red light, the defendant’s actions would almost certainly be deemed the actual and substantial cause of your resulting injuries – absent some other intervening factor.

Even in more complicated cases with nonstandard factual circumstances, Florida law provides plaintiffs with plenty of tools to establish legal cause and successfully recover against the defendant.

As establishing causation is critical to the success of your personal injury claims, it’s worth taking a moment to understand how it works.

Basic Legal Causation

Florida Standard Jury Instruction (FSJI) 401.12(a) elegantly summarizes the general concept of legal causation.  As per 401.12(a), a defendant’s negligence is the legal cause of injury if it “directly and in natural and continuous sequence produces or contributes substantially to producing such injury, so that it can reasonably be said that, but for the negligence, the injury would not have occurred.”

For our purposes, there are two concepts that are crucial to our basic understanding here.

“But For” Causation

The element of causation is likely to be satisfied if it can be said that, absent the defendant’s actions, the injury would not have occurred.  The application of “but for” causation is very helpful for the Florida personal injury plaintiff, as it clarifies the liability of those involved in the chain of events leading to an injury.

For example, suppose that you are injured in a multi-vehicular pileup accident.  The defendant whose actions created the pileup accident denies being the cause of your injuries, as there were many cars and collisions in between.  If the evidence shows that “but for” the defendant’s actions, you would not have been injured, then you may be able to recover damages from the defendant (despite them having acted early in the sequence of events leading up to your injuries).

Natural and Continuous Sequence

The element of causation requires a natural and continuous sequence of events following the defendant’s actions, but this is interpreted rather broadly in Florida.

For example, suppose that a speeding bicyclist slams into you on a sidewalk and you fall into the street.  A passing car then collides with you, causing severe injuries.  Though the sequence of events may have been unlikely, they are still likely to qualify as natural and continuous, given the circumstances.  A bicyclist on a sidewalk could reasonably predict that a high-speed accident with a pedestrian would cause the pedestrian to fall towards the road, exposing them to more danger.

Concurring Cause

Concurring cause gives plaintiffs in multi-causal situations the ability to establish legal causation and recover damages against the defendant.

How does it work?

The concept of concurring cause essentially frees the plaintiff from having to show that the defendant is the sole and exclusive cause of their injuries.  It allows a plaintiff to establish that the defendant caused their injuries, even if there are other factors that contributed – or interacted with the defendant’s actions – to actually cause the plaintiff’s injuries.

This is especially useful for plaintiff’s with pre-existing conditions or injuries.  In Florida, if you have a pre-existing condition that was exacerbated by the defendant’s actions, or that contributed to the injury itself, then you are still entitled to recover damages.  As Florida law protects plaintiffs with pre-existing conditions, it’s important that you speak with a qualified attorney as soon as possible so that you can pursue your injury claims.

Consider the following.

Suppose that you have a spinal condition that has resulted in the weakening of your spine.  One day, a motorist rear-ends you at a red light, but the motorist was traveling at a low speed.  Due to your pre-existing spinal condition, you suffer serious spinal injuries as a result.  The motorist was negligent, but under most normal circumstances, a driver in your position would not have suffered as significant an injury.

Florida law entitles you in the above situation to recover damages for your spinal injuries, even though you had a pre-existing condition.  FSJI 401.12(b) says that, a defendant’s negligence “may be a legal cause of injury even though it operates in combination with some other cause if the negligence contributes substantially to producing such injury.”  But for the defendant’s negligence in rear-ending your vehicle, you would not have been injured – even if the injury was created through a combination of the pre-existing condition and the defendant’s negligent act.

Contact Randall Spivey to speak with a skilled Fort Myers personal injury lawyer at the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. today to learn more about your rights and options under the law.