King v. City of Seattle

(dissenting) — I agree with all of the majority opinion except its conclusion that the defendant’s actions were not a proximate cause of plaintiffs’ damages. To be precise we should emphasize, as the majority correctly does, that we are not here speaking of proximate cause as cause in fact. The majority acknowledges that cause in fact did exist, linking the defendant’s actions to the plaintiffs’ damages.

Cause in fact does not lead automatically to legal responsibility. Again the majority is right in stating that there remains the question of whether the defendant should be legally responsible…