Barry G. Simmons v. Amerada Hess Corporation and Brown & Root, Inc.

This case involves a settled doctrine of Mississippi negligence law: An act which merely furnishes the condition or occasion upon which injuries are received, but which does not put in motion the agency by or through which the injuries are inflicted, does not constitute the proximate cause of the harm. Mississippi City Lines, Inc. v. Bullock, 194 Miss. 630, 13 So.2d 34, 36 (1943). Based on this doctrine, we affirm the district court’s entry of summary judgment against an injured plaintiff in favor of defendant, and decide that defendant’s motion was not premature, as argued by plaintiff,…