Snell v. Norwalk Yellow Cab, Inc.

Johnley Saineval (defendant) was a cab driver for Norwalk Yellow Cab, Inc. (Yellow Cab) (defendant). Saineval left his keys in the ignition of his cab with the doors unlocked while parked in a high-crime area. Teenagers Deondre Bowden and Shaquille Johnson, who intended to steal items from the cab, stole the cab itself to take it for a ride upon seeing the keys. The teens, who had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, took turns driving the cab from Norwalk to Stamford. As the teens were reaching Stamford, Bowden fell asleep at the wheel while stuck in traffic and hit the car in front of him. Bowden tried to escape by driving the cab onto the sidewalk, where he struck Brenda Snell (plaintiff), causing her significant injuries and millions of dollars in medical bills, with additional surgeries anticipated. Snell sued Saineval for negligence and Yellow Cab for vicarious liability as Saineval’s employer under respondeat superior. Snell alleged that Saineval’s negligence created a foreseeable risk that a thief would steal the cab and drive it in a manner that would cause an accident and harm to others. Saineval and Yellow Cab raised the defense of superseding cause, agreeing that the theft was foreseeable but arguing that the criminal conduct of intentionally operating the cab on a sidewalk while fleeing a hit-and-run and running over a person was unforeseeable. Thus, the court instructed the jury on the doctrine of superseding cause, which had been abolished in cases in which a third-party actor was merely negligent. The jury subsequently found that Saineval’s conduct proximately caused Snell’s harm but determined that the accident was not within the scope of risk of Saineval’s conduct in leaving the key in his unlocked cab. Snell found the jury’s ruling inconsistent and appealed, claiming that the defense of superseding cause was not applicable and that the jury should not have been instructed on it.