Free Proposed Jury Instructions - District Court of Colorado - Colorado

Case 1:04-cv-00591-MSK-BNB

Document 167

Filed 07/18/2005

Page 1 of 1

INSTRUCTION NO._____1 The word "cause" as used in these instructions means an act or failure to act that in natural and probable sequence produced the claimed injury. It is a cause without which the claimed injury would not have happened. If more than one act or failure to act contributed to the claimed injury, then each act or failure to act may have been a cause of the injury. A cause does not have to be the only cause or the last or nearest cause. It is enough if the act or failure to act joints in a natural and probable way with some act or failure to act to cause some or all of the claimed injury. CJI-Civ. 4th 9:20

Plaintiff objects to the italicized portion of this instruction because she contends that her softball playing following the collision does not constitute an intervening or concurrent cause of her injuries. See Webb v. Dessert Seed Company, Inc. 718 P.2d 1057 (Colo. 1986); Scharrrel v. Wal-Mart, 949 P.2d 89 (Colo. 1998); Voight v. Colorado Mountain Club, 819 P.2d 1088 (Colo. App. 1991) holding that an actor may be liable for a plaintiff's injury where the actor was negligent and his negligence constituted a substantial factor in causing plaintiff's injuries even where the actor did not and could not forsee the precise manner in which the injury would come about. See also Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 442B Intervening Force Causing Same Harm as That Risked by Actor's Conduct.

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