§ 32-15 Products Liability - Negligence Cause of Action - Proximate Cause

• Library: South Carolina Requests to Charge - Civil (SCBar) (2016 Ed.)

§ 32-15 Products Liability - Negligence Cause of Action - Proximate Cause

If you find that the plaintiff has proved that, in fact, the defendant was negligent, then your next inquiry would be whether the plaintiff has proved that such negligence so established was the proximate cause of the injury and damages. In a products liability case, the plaintiff must prove the product defect was the proximate cause of the injury sustained. Recovery in any products liability action requires that the injury incurred must have been actually caused by the defective condition of the product. A manufacturer or seller is liable in negligence for injuries proximately caused by a defective condition which could have been prevented by the defendant by the use of reasonable care.

I now define for you proximate cause. Proximate cause means the efficient cause, the direct cause, the cause without which the injury and damage would not have occurred. If you find the plaintiff has proved the defendant was negligent, but has failed to prove that such negligence was a proximate cause of the injury and damage, the plaintiff will have failed to make out his case and you would be required to bring in a verdict for the defendant. However, if the plaintiff has proved these two propositions, that is, that the defendant was negligent and that such negligence was the proximate cause of his injury and damages, then you would go to the third step, which is damages.

Negligence is not actionable unless it is a proximate cause of the loss or damage complained of. It may be deemed a proximate cause only when, without such negligence, the loss or damage would not have occurred or could have been avoided.

Proximate cause requires proof of both causation in fact and legal cause. Causation in fact is proved by establishing the plaintiff's injury would not have occurred "but for" the defendant's negligence. Legal cause is proved by establishing foreseeability.

The touchstone of proximate cause in South Carolina is foreseeability. That is, foreseeability of some injury from a negligent act or omission is a prerequisite to its being a proximate cause of the injury for which recovery is sought. The test of foreseeability is whether some injury to another is the natural and probable consequence of the complained of act. The defendant may be held liable for anything which appears to have been a natural and probable consequence of his negligence.

For an act to be a proximate cause of the injury, the injury...