Marshall was riding in Harriman's car on an icy road.
Harriman saw a truck driven by Nugent coming towards him and swerved,
losing control of the car and ending up in a ditch. Nugent stopped his
truck in the middle of the road and got out to help. The three of them
worked to get the car out of the ditch.
Prince came along, saw the truck blocking the road,
swerved, lost control on the ice and ran into Marshall, who was injured.
Marshall sued Nugent and Prince.
The Trial Court found for Marshall and against Nugent. Nugent
appealed.
Nugent argued that he was not the proximate cause
of the accident.
The Appellate Court affirmed the verdict.
The Appellate Court found that all the events, from the
original Harriman swerve to Marshall getting run over by Prince, were all
part of the same general event.
This case can be distinguished from Ventricelli v.
Kinney System Rent a Car, Inc., because in that case Kinney put
Ventricelli in the wrong place at the wrong time, but didn't put
Ventricelli in a position of increased danger. In this case, Nugent's
action put Marshall in a place of increased danger.
Ventricelli was parked in a legal parking place, Marshall
was flagging down cars on an icy highway.
