intervening cause

An event that comes between the initial event in a sequence and the end result, thereby altering the natural course of events that might have connected a wrongful act to an injury.

• If the intervening cause is strong enough to relieve the wrongdoer of any liability, it becomes a superseding cause. A dependent intervening cause is one that is not an act and is never a superseding cause. An independent intervening cause is one that operates on a condition produced by an antecedent cause but in no way resulted from that cause.

— Also termed intervening act; intervening agency; intervening force; independent intervening cause; efficient intervening cause; supervening cause; novus actus interveniens; nova causa interveniens. See superseding cause. [Cases: Negligence 430. C.J.S. Negligence §§ 202–205.]

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