Shofstahl v. Board of Commissioners

I,MICHAEL E. KIRBY, Judge.

Plaintiffs ran their boat into an unlit pier at night. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The plaintiffs appeal this judgment. We find that the defendants by maintaining the pier in the condition they did were a cause in fact of the accident. Nevertheless, the plaintiffs were the sole proximate and superseding cause of their maritime accident. Therefore, summary judgment was properly granted by the trial court because proximate causation cuts off liability for a cause in fact under general maritime law.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

On the…