Von Der Heide v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

While the majority rests its disposition upon its conclusion that the doctrine of superseding cause can be applied only to third-party conduct, I note that some comparative negligence jurisdictions have continued to apply superseding cause to a narrow category of cases in which an injured plaintiffs conduct is wholly unforeseeable, amounts to more than mere negligence, and creates a risk distinct from that created by the defendant’s conduct.1 Thus, while I acknowledge the soundness of the general preference for addressing the relevance of a plaintiffs own conduct within the calculus of…