This appeal arises out of an insurance subrogatipn claim filed on September 7, 1990 in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County by Hartford Insurance Company (Hartford), appellant, against the State of Maryland (State) and Manor Inn of Bethesda, Inc. (Manor), appellees. The suit sought to recover $38,241.40 plus costs and expenses paid out to appellant’s insured, William Wewer, for injuries and damages suffered in an automobile accident.
*228 On November 28,1990 the State filed a Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a claim. On December 4, 1990 the motion was denied. After discovery commenced, Manor filed a cross-complaint against the State. On September 25, 1991 Manor filed an amended cross-complaint against the State.
On October 23, 1991 the State filed a Motion for Summary Judgment opposed by appellant and Manor. On January 9, 1991 a hearing was held on the motion before the Honorable William M. Cave. After oral argument, the court granted the State’s Motion for Summary Judgment against appellant and sua sponte granted summary judgment in favor of Manor against appellant in order to make both judgments final and appealable. On January 24, 1992 the court entered a written order to this effect. On February 6, 1992 appellant noted a timely appeal to this Court.
Appellant presents the following issues for our review:
1) Whether the trial court erred in granting the State of Maryland’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
2) Whether the trial court erred in entering summary judgment in favor of Manor Inn of Bethesda, Inc., sua sponte.
For the following reasons, we shall affirm the orders of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, granting summary judgment in favor of Manor and the State.
FACTS
On August 20, 1988 Robert Lee Griffin was involuntarily committed to the Springfield State Hospital Center in Sykesville, Maryland, an inpatient facility for the mentally ill operated by the State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He had been transferred from Frederick Memorial Hospital, where two physicians had certified that Griffin met the criteria for involuntary admission. Under Md. Health-Gen.Code Ann. § 10-616(a)(2)(iii), the examining physician must certify that, among other things, involun *229 tary admission is needed for the protection of the patient or another.
At the Center, Griffin was placed in the Solomon Ward, a high-security admissions ward reserved primarily for acutely disturbed patients. Between August 20, 1988 and October 19, 1988, pursuant to state statute, Griffin was given several hearings, in which it was determined each time that he was not competent for release.
On October 28, 1988 Griffin was discovered missing from the facility. He had last been seen at 2:45 p.m. by the staff on the ward. In an affidavit, Guy Garheart, Chief of Police at Springfield Hospital Center, stated that Springfield’s elopement policy was fully enforced in the case of Griffin’s elopement. Once Griffin was discovered missing, identifying characteristics were relayed to the appropriate law enforcement agency along with a request that the agency send out a teletype concerning the elopement. Griffin was described as having a scar on his left forearm and wearing a brown jacket.
On October 31, 1988 Montgomery County Police officers found Griffin wandering the streets of Bethesda, Maryland. Believing him to be homeless and in need of emergency shelter, the officers took Griffin to the Manor Inn of Bethesda located at 11410 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, where he was given a room. Manor provided the room pursuant to a thirteen-year-old verbal agreement with the Montgomery County Department of Social Services, wherein Manor agreed to provide overnight shelter to homeless and wayward persons in exchange for a single rate of $54.00 plus tax of 10 percent. The officers did not notify Springfield Hospital or the State Police of their contact with Griffin.
On the morning of November 1, 1988 an employee of Manor parked a 1985 Chevrolet van in the parking lot of the Manor Inn, directly in front of Griffin’s room. The employee exited the van, left the doors unlocked, and left the keys in the ignition. Manor disputed that the van was left *230 unattended, claiming that the employee was working in the vicinity. Another Manor employee then saw Griffin get in the van and drive away.
Approximately thirty minutes later, appellant’s insured, William Wewer, was travelling southbound on East Avenue at the intersection with Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda. At the same time, Griffin was in the stolen van travelling eastbound on Bradley Boulevard. According to the State Accident Report, Griffin weaved on the roadway, crossed the centerline at a high rate of speed, drove over the curb onto East Avenue, and struck Wewer, who had stopped his 1984 Porsche 944 at a stop sign.
As a result of the collision, Wewer’s vehicle was a total loss. Wewer also sustained personal injuries. Pursuant to an insurance policy, appellant compensated Wewer $38,-241.40 for the total loss of his vehicle, personal injuries, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
In its complaint, appellant alleged various counts of negligence against the State and Manor. Appellant alleged that the State had a duty to supervise Griffin properly and to detain him, and that the breach of this duty had been a proximate cause of Wewer’s injuries. Appellant also alleged that the negligence of Manor’s employee was a proximate cause of the insured’s injuries.
Following a hearing, the court granted summary judgment in favor of both defendants. The court reasoned that the State owed no duty to Wewer since he was not in a group identifiable to the State prior to the accident. The court, sua sponte, determined as to Manor that the theft of the car and subsequent accident were not foreseeable, and therefore appellant could not show the necessary causation. Appellant appeals both orders of the court.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
It is well settled that summary judgment procedure is not a substitute for a trial but merely a preview to determine whether there exists a factual controversy re
*231
quiring trial.
Foy v. Prudential Ins. Co.,
Appellate review of a circuit court’s decision to grant or deny summary judgment is also well settled:
In reviewing a summary judgment, an appellate court has the same information from the record and decides the same issues of law as the trial court. It follows then that the proper standard for reviewing the granting of a summary judgment motion should be whether the trial court was legally correct.
Heat & Power v. Air Products,
*232 Manor Inn
Appellant contends that Manor is liable for Wewer’s injuries pursuant to a violation of Md.Transp.Code Ann. § 21-1101 by the employee of Manor who left the keys in the van’s ignition. Appellant argues that violation of this statute is legally sufficient evidence of negligence that should have precluded summary judgment.
“The violation of a statute may furnish evidence of negligence,”
Atlantic Mutual v. Kenney,
The pertinent provision of the Transportation Article, § 21-1101, entitled Unattended Motor Vehicle, reads as follows:
(a) Duty of driver upon leaving unattended vehicle. — Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, a person driving or otherwise in charge of a motor vehicle may not leave it unattended until the engine is stopped, the ignition locked, the key removed, and the brake effectively set.
“The purpose * * * [of the statute] was either to prevent some unauthorized person from starting a car or to prevent
*233
the start of a car by gravity. In either case the object was protection of the public.”
Liberto,
The Court of Appeals has held that leaving a key in the ignition of an unattended vehicle would be a violation of the statute and such violation may be evidence of negligence.
Khoyan v. Turner,
It is uncontroverted that the Manor employee who drove the van left the key in the ignition. The employee was also far enough away to render the van clearly “unattended.” Thus there was a violation of the statute that could be evidence of negligence. See Khoyan, supra.
Our analysis, however, does not end there. Appellant must still prove that Manor breached its duty of care to Wewer and that the breach was the proximate cause of his injuries.
Brill v. Wilbanks,
Proximate cause ultimately involves a conclusion that someone will be held legally responsible for the consequences of an act or omission. This determination is subject to considerations of fairness or social policy as well as mere causation. Thus, although an injury might not have occurred “but for” an antecedent act of the defendant, liability may not be imposed if for example the *234 negligence of one person is merely passive and potential, while the negligence of another is the moving and effective cause of the injury. Bloom v. Good Humor Ice Cream Co.,179 Md. 384 ,18 A.2d 592 (1941), or if the injury is so remote in time and space from defendant’s original negligence that another’s negligence intervenes. Dersookian v. Helmick,256 Md. 627 ,261 A.2d 472 (1970); Liberto v. Holfeldt,221 Md. 62 ,155 A.2d 698 (1959).
The lower court found that the negligence of the Manor employee was merely passive, so the company could not be held responsible “for the actions of Mr. Griffin in negligently running into somebody.” The court also noted that violation of the statute “does not per se give rise to liability when the injury is caused by an intervening person who comes and negligently operates that motor vehicle.” Before we address the lower court’s decision, we believe that a brief discussion of cases that have interpreted the Unattended Vehicle statute would be helpful.
We first note that, while the Courts of this State have never definitively held that the Unattended Vehicle statute applies to vehicles parked on a private roadway,
Waltzinger v. Birsner,
Turning to the history of the statute, in
Hochschild, Kohn & Co. v. Canoles,
The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision, finding that the defendant’s negligence was a violation of the statute and a proximate cause of the accident.
Id.
at 284,
The purpose of Section 192 was either to prevent some unauthorized person from starting a car or to prevent the start of a car by gravity. In either case the object was the protection of the public. The result was to be accomplished not only by turning off the motor and locking the ignition and taking the key away, which would make it difficult for anyone except a mechanic to start the car, but also by the provision that the brakes must be set and the wheels turned to the curb, so that if the car, for any reason, should start of its own accord, it would strike the curb and this would operate as a brake or means of preventing any further motion.
Id.
at 283,
Several years later, in Liberto, supra, the Court of Appeals was required to construe the statute with respect to the failure to remove the key from the ignition of an unattended vehicle. In Liberto, the defendant left her car unattended in front of an animal hospital with the key in the ignition. The car was stolen, and five days later, across town, was crashed into the plaintiff. The lower court granted a motion for directed verdict to Liberto, and the plaintiff appealed.
*236
Affirming the lower court, the Court of Appeals first noted the general rule that, even if the defendant had violated the statute, the plaintiff must still show the breach of a duty specifically owed to him and that there was no break in the chain of causation.
See Brill v. Wilbanks,
the negligence of the defendant was not the proximate cause of the injury both on the basis that it was not foreseeable that the thief would be involved in an accident five days later and that the negligence of the thief was an independent intervening cause which was in fact the proximate cause of the accident.
Liberto,
“To our knowledge, no court has yet held such a statute * * * to impose upon a driver a duty to remove his keys running to the benefit of any person whom a thief or his successor in possession might meet and injure hours, days or weeks after the theft.”
Id.
(emphasis added). The Court also found that the injury was too remote, both in time and space, from the defendant’s negligent act for liability to remain.
Liberto,
In
Brill v. Wilbanks,
The same result on similar factual circumstances was reached in
Dersookian v. Helmick,
More recently in
Tri-State Tr. & Equip. Co. v. Stauffer,
involved statutes not intended to protect other users of the public highways against the negligent operation of motor vehicles and involved circumstances absent any volitional connecting link between the statute violator and the operator of the vehicle causing harm. The violators of the statute in those cases would not reasonably have foreseen that the ultimate result would have occurred as a natural consequence of their violations.
Appellant attempts to distinguish Liberto and its progeny by arguing that the injuries in the case sub judice were not as remote in time and space as were the injuries in those cases. Indeed, the accident here occurred a mere thirty minutes after the van was stolen. Foreseeability is not limited, however, to only questions of remoteness, but is connected to the duty owed as well.
Foreseeability as a factor in the determination of the existence of a duty involves a prospective consideration of the facts existing at the time of the negligent conduct. Foreseeability as an element of proximate cause permits a retrospective consideration of the total facts of the occurrence, including the criminal acts of a third person occurring after the original act of negligence of a tortfeasor.
Henley v. Prince George’s County,
In view of this apparent extension of liability, we hold that a person driving or otherwise in charge of a vehicle within the meaning of Md.Transp.Code Ann. § 21-1101 who leaves the vehicle unattended with the key in the ignition in violation of the statute and who then discovers the vehicle stolen is not liable to persons who are injured or suffer damages proximately caused by the negligent driving or operation of the vehicle by thieves or other unknown or unauthorized third-party intermeddlers.
Our holding is independent of whether the injuries are remote in time or space to the negligent failure of a driver to remove the keys from the ignition. Our decision would be the same if the injuries or damage were one minute or one year after the negligent act. In either case, the person leaving the keys would not be liable since the possibility that the vehicle would be negligently driven by a thief and the cause of damages is not foreseeable and need not be anticipated or guarded against.
We also note that our holding in no way affects earlier decisions that have attached liability to a driver where the vehicle, left unattended in violation of the statute, moves away because of gravity or under its own power, causing damage. Nor do we inquire into what other types of third-party negligence could relieve from liability a driver who violates the statute. We simply hold that, when the key is *239 left in the ignition of an unattended vehicle, the taking of that vehicle by an unknown or unauthorized third party who negligently causes damages is an independent and intervening factor, not reasonably foreseeable to the driver, thereby relieving the owner or person in charge of the vehicle from liability for damages caused by the third-party’s negligent driving or operation of the vehicle.
The trial court opined that in today’s world a thief can steal a car without ignition keys nearly as fast as if the keys were available. We leave it to the Legislature to determine whether car owners’ statutory duty to safeguard their cars runs to the benefit of those who may be injured by a negligently driven stolen car.
Negligence of the State
Appellant next argues that the court erred when it granted summary judgment in favor of the State. Appellant contends that the State’s negligent failure to control Griffin was the proximate cause of Wewer’s injuries. A determination of the State’s legal responsibility requires us to consider whether there exists (1) a duty arising from a special relationship and (2) foreseeability in the context of the identif¡ability of the victim. We agree with the argument advanced by the State.
To establish a cause of action in negligence, a plaintiff must prove the existence of four elements: a duty owed to him (or to a class of which he is a member), a breach of that duty, a legally cognizable causal relationship between the breach of a duty and the harm suffered, and damages.
E.g. Jacques v. First Nat’l Bank,
In general, “a private person is under no special duty to protect another from criminal acts by a third person, in the absence of statutes, or of a special relationship.”
Scott,
*240
One who takes charge of a third person whom he knows or should know to be likely to cause bodily harm to others if not controlled is under a duty to exercise reasonable care to control the third person to prevent him from doing such harm.
Lamb,
Appellee, the State of Maryland, admits that a “special relationship existed between the State and Mr. Griffin while Mr. Griffin was in custody as a Springfield patient. This custodial relationship imposed on the State a general duty to prevent Mr. Griffin from causing physical harm to others.” As such, we will not engage in a discussion of whether Griffin was under the “control” of the State within the meaning of § 319.
While admitting a duty existed, the State argues that it had no duty to appellant’s insured, Wewer, “because he was an unforeseeable plaintiff.” Relying on this Court’s decision in
Furr v. Spring Grove State Hosp.,
We addressed a similar, although not identical, set of facts in
Furr, supra.
In that case, a young boy was murdered by a young, sexual deviant who had eloped from Spring Grove State Hospital where he had been a “voluntary” admittee.
Id.
On appeal to this Court we affirmed, deciding that the duty of a psychiatrist, if any, to protect others from the acts of a patient extends only to those potential victims who are “readily identifiable.”
Id.
at 489,
The State asserts that, under the decision in
Furr,
appellant’s insured was not a readily identifiable victim and thus the State owed him no duty of care. We agree.
*242
Wewer was an unidentified plaintiff at the time of Griffin’s elopement from Springfield Hospital Center. Even if the State knew Griffin, was inclined to steal a parked car and negligently crash it into another driver, the State had no way to warn Wewer, the injured plaintiff, prior to the incident.
See Furr,
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.
COSTS TO BE PAID BY APPELLANT.
Notes
. We also conclude that leaving one’s key in the ignition is merely passive and potential negligence and where the negligence of another is the moving and effective cause of the injury, as the action of the thief was in this case, the latter act is the proximate cause of the accident.
See Liberto,
. The State does not raise the defense of governmental immunity on this appeal. Accordingly, we will not address that issue. Md.Rule 8-131.
