Summers, Tice, and another guy
were all out quail hunting. Summers went ahead, a quail appeared, both
Tice and the other guy shot at it, and some of the shot pellets hit
Summers in the face. Summers sued for negligence.
The major damage to Summers
was one single pellet that hit him in the eye. That one pellet could not
have come from both guns. However, it was not possible to determine whose
gun fired the offending pellet.
Tice and the other guy both
argued that since there was no proof that the pellet came form their gun,
they shouldn't be held liable.
The Trial Court held both
defendants equally liable for Summers' injury. They appealed.
The Trial Court said,
"We think that each is liable for the resulting injury, although no
one could say who actually shot him. To hold otherwise would be to
exonerate both from liability, although each was negligent and the injury
resulted from such negligence."
Tice and the other guy both
argued that it was not fair to the person who didn't fire the shot that hit Summers to make them
pay for an injury they didn't cause.
The Appellate Court affirmed.
The Appellate Court felt
that the burden of proof should rest on the defendants, not on the
plaintiff.
If one defendant could show
that the other defendant fired the fatal shot, then they could escape
liability. If they can't prove the other guy did it, then both will be
held liable.
The Court noted that both
defendants were negligent, it was
just that one guy got lucky and his negligent shot missed. So it wasn't
unreasonable to hold both defendants liable.
Summers was found to not be
contributorily negligent, so he
wasn't at fault. But someone had to pay Summers' medical bills. If
Tice and the other guy got off, then Summers would have to pay, and
that's not right.
In Doe v. Baxter Healthcare
Corp. (380 F.3d 399 (2004)), this
doctrine was extended. It was held that a defendant can be held liable
even if it is highly unlikely that their actions caused the damage, as
long as it cannot be shown that the actions could not have caused the
damages.
