Unattended Candles  To foresee or not to foresee, that is the
question. Well, at least its the question when you are arguing
for summary judgment on the basis of the plaintiff’s failure to
produce evidence on the issue of proximate cause. In a recent
unpublished decision by the United States Court of Appeals for
the Fourth Circuit, the court reviewed the seemingly symbiotic
relationship between the proximate cause element in a negligence
action and the requirement that the injury be a foreseeable
consequence from an act or an omission. Graham v. Progress
Energy, Inc., No. 08-1906 (4th Cir. June 25, 2010) (unpublished)
[PDF].  In Graham, the court was reviewing the district court’s
grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The case
arose out of an incident in which the plaintiffs’ home caught on
fire. The fire started after the plaintiffs began using candles
as a source of light. The reason that they had to use candles
was that they failed to pay their electric bill and thus the
power to their home