Careless behavior does not always make someone responsible for an injury. In a personal injury case, there must be a connection between the defendant’s actions and the harm suffered. This is known as causation.
For example, if a distracted driver runs a red light, crashes into your car, and breaks your leg, the connection may be clear. But what if another vehicle hits you moments later? Or the driver argues that their actions did not cause your injury?
Under Arizona law, causation is one of four elements of negligence, along with duty, breach of duty, and damages. To recover compensation, you generally must show that the defendant’s actions caused your injuries.
What Are the Elements of Negligence in Arizona?
Most personal injury cases are based on negligence. Negligence essentially means that someone failed to exercise the level of care required under the circumstances and caused another person to suffer harm.
Arizona negligence cases generally involve four elements:
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- Duty: The defendant owed the injured person a legally recognized duty.
- Breach: The defendant failed to satisfy the applicable standard of care.
- Causation: The defendant’s breach caused the plaintiff’s injury.
- Damages: The plaintiff suffered actual harm for which compensation may be available.
Each element matters. There is no personal injury case simply because a driver behaved dangerously. Someone seeking damages must connect wrongful conduct to an actual injury; that is, where causation becomes essential.
What Does Causation Mean in a Personal Injury Case?
Causation connects the defendant’s conduct to the plaintiff’s injury. Think of negligence as a chain. At one end is the defendant’s wrongful conduct. At the other is the plaintiff’s injury. Causation is the link between them. If that link is missing, proving the defendant behaved negligently may not be enough to establish liability.
Causation can become one of the most heavily disputed parts of a personal injury case. This is because insurance companies do not necessarily have to prove that you were never injured. Instead, they might argue that something else caused your injury.
Why Is Causation So Important?
Causation can become a key issue when there is a dispute over whether an accident caused a particular injury.
For example, suppose a distracted driver rear-ends your vehicle. You suffer from back pain, but your medical records show that you had back problems before the crash. The insurance company may accept responsibility for the accident while disputing whether it caused your current symptoms.
In this situation, the question is whether the accident caused a new injury or made an existing condition worse. Medical records, imaging, and physician testimony can help establish that connection.
Causation can affect both your ability to recover compensation and the amount of damages you may receive.
What Are the Two Prongs of Causation?
Causation is commonly analyzed through two related concepts:
- Actual cause, which is discussed using a “but-for” test; and
- Proximate cause, sometimes called legal cause.
Both concepts ask whether the defendant’s conduct is sufficiently connected to the injury to justify imposing liability.
What Is Actual Cause?
Actual cause asks whether an injury would have happened without the defendant’s actions. This is known as the “but-for” test.
For example, suppose a distracted driver runs a red light and crashes into your vehicle, breaking your leg. If the injury would not have happened but for the driver’s failure to stop, their actions may be considered the actual cause.
Establishing actual cause can be more complicated when multiple people or events contribute to an accident.
What Is Proximate Cause?
Actual cause does not necessarily end the inquiry. The law also considers proximate cause.
In Arizona, a proximate cause is a cause that produces an injury through a natural and continuous sequence. This sequence cannot be broken by an efficient intervening cause. In simpler terms, the law asks whether the connection between the defendant’s conduct and the injury is legally sufficient.
Arizona courts treat proximate causation as a factual issue for the jury. However, a court can resolve the issue when the evidence fails to establish a connection that people could not disagree about.
What Damages Can You Recover?
Once liability and causation are established, the case turns in significant part to the losses caused by the injury. Depending on the circumstances, an Arizona personal injury claim may involve compensation for both economic and non-economic losses, such as:
- Medical expenses
- Future medical treatment
- Lost income
- Reduced earning capacity
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Disability or physical impairment
- Scarring or disfigurement
Causation is critically important to recover damages. You must connect the damages you are claiming to the defendant’s wrongful conduct.
Contact AJ Law, PLC To Schedule a Free Consultation With an Arizona Personal Injury Attorney
Proving someone behaved carelessly is only part of a negligence case. Arizona law also requires a causal connection between the breach and the resulting injury. If you were injured because of someone else’s negligence in Arizona, don’t face the aftermath alone.
Contact AJ Law, PLC at (602) 671-2363 for a free consultation with an Arizona personal injury lawyer. We will investigate your accident, gather evidence, establish causation, and fight for the compensation you truly deserve.
