406.7 Legal Cause

406.7 Legal Cause a. Legal cause generally: The malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding is a cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] if it directly and in natural and continuous sequence produces or contributes substantially to producing such [loss] [injury] [or] [damage], so that it can reasonably be said that, but for the malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding, the [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] would not have occurred. b. Concurring cause: In order to be regarded as a legal cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] the malicious [institution] [continuation] of such a proceeding need not be the only cause. The malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding may be a legal cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] even though it operates in combination with [the act of another] [some natural cause] [or] [some other cause] if the malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding contributes substantially to producing such [loss] [injury] [or] [damage]. c. Intervening cause: [*In order to be regarded as a legal cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage], the malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding need not be its only cause.] The malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding may also be a legal cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] even though it operates in combination with [the act of another] [some natural cause] [or] [some other cause] occurring after the malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding occurs if [such other cause was itself reasonably foreseeable and the malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding contributes substantially to producing such [loss] [injury] [or] [damage]] [or] [the resulting [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding and the malicious [institution] [continuation] of a proceeding contributes substantially to producing it]. [* Do not use the bracketed first sentence if this instruction is preceded by the instruction on concurring cause.]