Emotional distress may be connected to suicide, but causation is another matter

Torts

By Colin H. Dunn

Colin H. Dunn is a partner at Clifford Law Offices who concentrates in personal-injury and aviation law and handles complex and mass tort litigation. He can be reached at chd@cliffordlaw.com.

Posted June 24, 2015 2:42 PM

When an individual commits suicide, the general rule is that his death cannot provide the basis for a wrongful-death or survival action claim.This is because the decedent’s act is an “independent intervening event that the tortfeasor cannot be expected to foresee” as a matter of law. Crumpton v. Walgreen Co., 375 Ill.App.3d 73, 79 (2007). In other words, the “suicide or attempted suicide is not a natural or probable result of a defendant’s negligence.” Stasiof v. Chicago Hoist & Body …

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