Pfeifer, by Guardian Ad Litem, and Another, Appellants, vs. Standard Gateway Theater, Inc., Respondent

Summary

On appeal from a second trial in which the jury found the theater negligent but answered the special-verdict causation questions 'No,' the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that proximate cause remained a question of fact for the jury and that a finding of negligence does not compel a causation finding as a matter of law. The court held the trial court's proximate-cause instruction erroneous and prejudicial because it interjected foreseeability and 'natural and probable result' language into the causation question, contrary to the rule of Osborne v. Montgomery that foreseeability is an element of negligence only; the court endorsed 'substantial factor' as the proper definition of legal cause and announced that in unusual or 'hard' cases the jury decides negligence and causation as in ordinary cases, after which the court decides as a matter of law whether public policy precludes liability. The judgment was reversed and the cause remanded for a third trial.