Legal Definitions - remote cause

A remote cause is an event or factor that contributes to an injury or damage but is too far removed in the chain of events to be considered a direct or legally responsible cause. Unlike a proximate cause, a remote cause typically does not establish legal liability because its connection to the harm is indirect and attenuated.

A remote cause refers to an event or action that contributes to an outcome but is considered too far removed or indirect to establish legal responsibility. While a remote cause might initiate a chain of events, the ultimate harm or injury was not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that initial action, often because significant intervening factors broke the direct link. In legal contexts, a remote cause is distinguished from a proximate cause, which is the direct and legally recognized cause of an injury or damage.

• Example 1: Unforeseeable Accident

  Imagine a person parks their car on a street and forgets to set the parking brake. Hours later, an extremely rare and powerful earthquake causes the ground to shake violently, dislodging the car and sending it rolling down a hill, where it collides with another vehicle. While forgetting the parking brake *contributed* to the car rolling, the sudden and catastrophic earthquake is an intervening factor that makes the initial oversight a remote cause of the collision. The earthquake, being an unforeseeable and overwhelming event, would be considered the proximate cause.

• Example 2: Product Misuse

  A company manufactures a common household ladder according to all safety standards. Years later, a consumer uses the ladder to support a heavy, custom-built scaffolding system, far exceeding the ladder's weight capacity and intended use. The scaffolding collapses, causing injury. The original manufacturing of the ladder is a remote cause of the injury; the consumer's unauthorized and unsafe modification and misuse of the product is the proximate cause, as the injury was not a foreseeable outcome of the original, properly used ladder.

• Example 3: Environmental Factors

  A homeowner leaves a small pile of dry leaves near their fence. Weeks later, a massive, uncontrolled wildfire, started by lightning miles away, sweeps through the area, destroying the homeowner's house and fence. While the dry leaves could have theoretically contributed to a small, localized fire, the overwhelming and unforeseeable wildfire is the dominant intervening event. The pile of leaves is a remote cause of the house's destruction; the wildfire itself is the proximate cause.