What Is Causation in a Personal Injury Claim?
Causation connects the defendant’s breach of duty to your injury. It is the third element of negligence, after duty and breach.
Texas calls the required link proximate cause. It has two parts:
- Cause in fact. The conduct was a substantial factor in causing the injury, and the injury would not have happened without it.
- Foreseeability. A person of ordinary care would have anticipated that the conduct could cause this kind of harm.
How Causation Works in Practice
You must prove causation by a preponderance of the evidence. Two questions usually come up.
Did the defendant cause the accident? Crash reports, video, vehicle data, and witnesses answer this.
Did the accident cause your injuries? This is medical causation. Doctors’ records, imaging, and sometimes expert witnesses connect the accident to your diagnosis.
An injury can have more than one proximate cause. When several people share responsibility, Texas assigns each a percentage under Chapter 33.
Examples of Causation
- A driver runs a stop sign and hits your car. You are diagnosed with a herniated disc the next day. Causation is direct.
- A store fails to clean up a spill, and a shopper falls and breaks a wrist. The fall is a foreseeable result of the spill.
- You had mild back pain before a crash, but now need surgery. The defendant may be responsible for the worsening, not the old condition.
- A driver is rear-ended, and weeks later is hurt in an unrelated fall at home. The second injury is likely not caused by the crash.
How Causation Affects Your Claim
Causation is one of the most disputed parts of an injury case. Delays in getting care give insurers room to argue that something else caused your pain. See a doctor promptly, follow the treatment plan, and tell your providers about prior injuries.
Most Texas injury suits must be filed within two years. If an insurer is questioning whether the accident caused your injuries, a free case review can help.
About Brad Parker
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "but for" causation?
"But for" causation is another name for cause in fact. You ask whether the injury would have happened but for the defendant's conduct. If the crash would not have happened had the driver stopped at the light, the running of the light is a cause in fact. Texas also requires that the harm be foreseeable.
What is an intervening cause?
An intervening cause is a new event that happens after the defendant's conduct and contributes to the harm. If it was unforeseeable and independent, it can cut off the defendant's responsibility. A foreseeable event, such as a second car striking a vehicle stalled after a first crash, usually does not break the chain.
How do insurers dispute causation in injury claims?
They may point to gaps in medical treatment, pre-existing conditions, low vehicle damage, or a later accident. Steady treatment records, imaging, and a treating doctor's opinion help answer these arguments. Texas law lets you recover when a crash worsens an old condition, but only for the worsening it caused.
More resources