Brenda Snell v. Norwalk Yellow Cab, Inc.

Summary

The court held that Connecticut's superseding-cause doctrine remains available when a third party's criminally reckless conduct intervenes and apportionment of liability is unavailable. It also held that a jury cannot find both that the defendant's negligence was a proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries and that the intervening conduct was a superseding cause, because a superseding cause must render the defendant's negligence insufficient to constitute a proximate cause. The judgment was reversed and the case was remanded for a new trial. Ecker, J., concurring, agreed with the result but urged simplification of the doctrine and cautioned against addressing issues not presented concerning an earlier decision and model jury instructions.