What is the test for establishing a cause of death in a motor vehicle accident?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Zemek v. Superior Court of Riverside Cnty., 257 Cal.Rptr.3d 729, 44 Cal.App.5th 535 (Cal. App. 2020):
"An element of homicide is that the defendant's criminal act or omission be the proximate cause of the death. [Citation.]" ( People v. Morgan (1985) 177 Cal.App.3d 466, 469, 225 Cal.Rptr. 673.)
" "[T]he law defines cause in its own particular way." [Citation.] A cause of [death] is an act or omission that sets in motion a chain of events that produces as a direct, natural and probable consequence of the act or omission the [death] and without which the [death] would not occur. [Citation.]" ( People v. Brady (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 1314, 1324, 29 Cal.Rptr.3d 286.)
"In general, [p]roximate cause is clearly established where the act is directly connected with the resulting injury, with no intervening force operating. [Citation.] ... But ... the defendant may also be criminally liable for a result directly caused by his or her act, even though there is another contributing cause. [Citations.]" ( People v. Cervantes (2001) 26 Cal.4th 860, 866-867, 111 Cal.Rptr.2d 148, 29 P.3d 225.)
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