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INTERVENING CAUSE

An action or event that occurs, after an original act or event occurs that sets a series of events into motion, and before the end result. The original action and the end result remain connected even though another intervening action occurs. An event which occurs after a negligent or dangerous act that affects the chain of causation to the ultimate damages that result and thus making the second actor liable rather than the first. For example, John throws a baseball negligently towards a crowd of people but Bob swats it out of the air with a baseball bat and strikes it towards another crowd of people where it strikes and seriously injures a person.

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