Derdiarian v. Felix Contracting Corp.
Citation: 51 N.Y.2d 308 (1980)
Facts
Felix Contracting failed to erect a barricade as required, leaving an excavation site inadequately protected. A driver suffered a seizure, lost control, and crashed through the work zone, striking Derdiarian (a worker) and dousing him in boiling enamel, causing severe burns. Felix argued the driver’s negligent seizure was a superseding cause.
Issue
Did the driver’s seizure-induced loss of control constitute a superseding cause that broke the causal chain between Felix’s failure to barricade and Derdiarian’s injuries?
Holding
No. The driver’s negligent act was a foreseeable intervening cause — one of the very risks that made the failure to erect a barricade negligent in the first place. A foreseeable intervening cause does not break the causal chain.
Rule
Foreseeable intervening cause: An intervening cause does not break the chain of proximate causation if it was foreseeable as one of the hazards that made the defendant’s conduct negligent. The risk of uncontrolled vehicles entering an inadequately barricaded work site is precisely the type of risk that safety regulations requiring barricades are designed to prevent.
Significance
- Classic case on intervening causes in proximate cause analysis
- Distinguishes foreseeable intervening causes (do not break chain) from unforeseeable superseding causes (break chain)
- Key question: was the intervening cause within the type of risk that made the defendant’s conduct negligent?
- Paired with Benn v. Thomas (eggshell plaintiff) and Wagon Mound I (foreseeability) in proximate cause teaching