## Facts

- Cecil B. Rogers and Susan D. Rogers (a minor, by next friend) sued two young motorists, Robert C. Race and Ronald (Bronislaw J.) Bierczynski, Jr., for injuries from an automobile collision on Lore Avenue.
- Plaintiffs alleged the defendants were engaged in a speed competition on a public highway and that their concurrent negligence caused the accident.
- The posted speed limit was 25 m.p.h.; evidence supported that the cars descended a hill side-by-side at roughly twice the limit as they approached plaintiffs’ vehicle.
- Race attempted to return to his lane, lost control, and struck plaintiffs’ car.
- Bierczynski’s vehicle remained in its lane and never physically contacted plaintiffs’ car; Bierczynski admitted driving about 45 m.p.h. but denied legal causation.
- A jury, answering special interrogatories, found both Race and Bierczynski negligent and found each defendant’s negligence a proximate cause of the accident, returning joint verdicts against both.
- Bierczynski alone appealed; Race supported affirmance alongside plaintiffs.

## Issues

1. Whether sufficient evidence permitted a jury to find Bierczynski participated in a street race and that such participation was a proximate cause of plaintiffs’ injuries despite no vehicle-to-vehicle contact with plaintiffs.
2. Whether the trial court properly allowed plaintiffs to argue the “racing” theory based on the evidence.
3. Whether the trial court properly excluded evidence that plaintiffs did not pursue traffic charges against Bierczynski.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Delaware affirmed the judgment against Bierczynski.
- The court held the evidence permitted an inference that a speed competition occurred and that participation in it was negligent.
- The court held a racing participant may be found a proximate cause of harm to third persons even if only the other racer’s car physically strikes the victim.
- The court treated racers as wrongdoers acting in concert, making each participant responsible for injuries resulting from the race.
- The court upheld the trial court’s rulings permitting racing-related argument and excluding evidence about the absence of traffic charges.

## Legal Principles

- Conduct amounting to automobile racing or a speed competition on a public highway can constitute negligence under ordinary care standards, even absent a specific anti-racing statute.
- When multiple actors engage in a common tortious scheme and mutually encourage the risky conduct, each may be liable for the resulting harm to third parties as actors in concert.
- Proximate cause does not require physical impact by each defendant; participation that induces or encourages the immediate tortfeasor’s dangerous conduct may be a substantial contributing legal cause.
- The absence of criminal or traffic charges is generally irrelevant to civil liability and may be excluded to avoid misleading the jury.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed joint civil liability for injuries arising from a street race, holding that a participant who did not collide with the plaintiffs could still be found negligent and a proximate cause under concerted-action principles, and that related trial rulings on argument and evidence were proper.


Bierczynski v. Rogers, 239 A.2d 218 (Del. 1968)