Palsgraf
v. Long Island R.R. Co.
Court
of Appeals of
248
N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99.
Prosser,
pp. 303-311
Facts: A guy with a box was
rushing to get on a train. One of the railroad’s
employees gave him a shove, and he dropped a non-descript package which turned
out to be filled with fireworks.
KERPLEWIE! Somehow, it is
alleged, the explosion knocked down a scale (like you use to weigh stuff) and
hit the plaintiff. The plaintiff sues
for her injuries based on the theory that the railroad’s employee was negligent.
Issue: Is there such a thing as
transferred negligence?
Rule: There must be a wrong in
order for there to be liability for negligence.
Analysis: Justice Cardozo says that
this is not a causation issue.
In
a dissenting opinion, Justice Andrews writes that this case is really an issue
of proximate cause. He finds that the
guard’s negligence actually was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s
injury.
Conclusion: The judgment of the lower
courts was reversed and the plaintiff got nothing.