Summers v. Tice
Supreme Court of California
199 P.2d 1 (Cal. 1948)
Relevant factsFree
Summers (plaintiff), Tice (defendant), and Simonson (defendant) went quail hunting together, with Summers walking ahead of the other two after warning them to use care. When Tice flushed a quail, both Tice and Simonson fired birdshot toward it and toward Summers, and pellets struck Summers in the eye and lip, though no one could determine which man's shot caused which injury. Summers sued both hunters for negligence, the trial court entered judgment against both, and the defendants appealed.
IssueFree
Whether, when two defendants who did not act together both serve as the proximate cause of a plaintiff's injuries, each defendant may be held liable for the full extent of the damage.