Question

One evening, Andrea Filer and her daughter were riding their horses along Riley Hill Road, a public highway in the Town of Salem, New York. At the same time, Megan Adams was jogging along the same road with her son in a stroller and two dogs by her side. Filer noticed that her horse's ears flickered and stiffened, apparently hearing sounds from behind. Filer turned and saw Adams. When Adams observed that Filer was having difficulty controlling her horse, she slowed to a walk. While Adams was still about 50 yards behind the riders, one of her dogs barked and the horses both abruptly broke into a canter or a run. Filer, who was not wearing a helmet, fell from her horse seconds later and sustained serious injuries. Plaintiff Filer sued Adams, alleging that Adams was negligent in following the horse riders too elosely and letting her dogs bark, which she claimed spooked the horses. Defendant Adams asserted that Filer, an experienced rider, should have had control of her horse. Adams stated that she was a far enough dis- tance from Filer and that walking with the stroller and the dog's bark were not the proximate cause of Filer's accident. Were Adams's activities the proximate cause of Filer's riding accident? Andrea v. Adams, 966 N.Y.S.2d 553, 106 A.D.3d 1417, 2013 N.Y. App. Div. Lexis 3831 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2013)

Answer 1

Proximate cause is defined as the event which acts as the cause of an injury. This exists when the injury results from a negligence. For example a car driving fast and getting rammed into a store. Adam was far from Filer and not very close that the dogs ran over the horse. In addition Filer also didn't wear a helmet which increased the chances of her getting a serious injury. If she would have worn a helmet, she would have suffered few injuries. Its not that dogs are not allowed on the street, it is legal to have a stroll and the dogs barked, they did not run over the horse to make him agitate. Thus Adams activities were not the proximate cause of Filer's riding accident as Adam was far behind and any dog would have barked. It is because of the horse getting agitated that caused Filer's accident and Filer couldn't control the horse.