Suppose your skull is especially fragile, like the shell of an egg, and another person negligently drops something on your head. The doctrine originated in the 1901 English case of Dulieu v. A personal injury demand letter is a letter that formally requests compensation for damages suffered as a result of a personal injury. The Eggshell Plaintiff Doctrine in Illinois. On this ground, the defendant beauty shop owner claims that since the extent of the plaintiffs injury was thus unforeseeable, the defendant is not liable. Id. Typically, either the injured person or their attorney drafts a demand letter and sends it to either the person who caused their injuries, In Texas, personal injury cases must be filed within two years from the day of your accident or injury. This includes added medical expenses, pain and suffering, reduced earning capacity, and physical impairment. The trend really took off at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it certainly shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. This is a blood clotting disorder where, due to a genetic defect, one's blood lacks a crucial component that is required for blood to clot and for scabs to form. This reduces the compensation of the victim by the percentage of fault they share. 2d at 944 (quotation omitted). That means that even when the victim has a previous injury or is in the middle of a treatment at the time of the car accident (or another incident), they may still be entitled to compensation. However, applying this rule often complicates cases. The tortfeasor takes his victim as he finds him. Complications that Arise from the Eggshell Rule. The eggshell skull rulealso called the thin skull rulesays that you take your victim as you find them. Don't be fooled. The person throwing the chalk does not get a pass because he or she didnt know that the victim was more vulnerable to injury. Shareholder Action Against Company Directors. An oft-cited example of a plaintiff whose injuries are covered by the eggshell plaintiff or Thin Skull Rule is one who suffers from hemophilia. Heres the short answer: In most cases, you have two [], Most car accidents happen at intersections, plain and simple. Privacy Policy and The metal burned him on his lip, which happened to be premalignant tissue. Eggshell refers to the example used in many law schools where a plaintiff has a rare condition that leaves them with a fragile skull. $4,000,000 SEMI-TRUCK ACCIDENT SETTLEMENT. Facts. This doctrine is used in some tort law systems, it is sometimes also used in criminal law system. An Example of How The Thin Skull Rule Works. If a tortfeasor inflicts a graver loss on his victim than one would have expected because the victim had some pre-existing vulnerability, that is the tortfeasor's bad luck; you take your victim as you find him. The negligent party cannot use the pre-existing condition of a victim as a defense to limit liability. Better Legal Talent and Quality Work than the Large Firms. The defendant argued that the illness resulted from his familys response to the accident. Eggshell Skull, , . According to the Federal Highway Administration, roughly half of car accident injuries and one-quarter of car accident fatalities occur at intersections. After the victim refused the defendant's sexual advances the defendant stabbed the victim four times. Finally, even with the best case, sometimes awards can be reduced because of pre-existing conditions, even if you meet the conditions for the eggshell skull rule. But you have brittle bone syndrome, and that slight rear-end impact caused several broken bones, excruciating pain, extensive medical treatment, and lost wages. PRINTED FROM OXFORD REFERENCE (www.oxfordreference.com). But it can be difficult to determine who is at fault in an intersection accidentwith many turning into a he said, she said situation. First, although the driver [], New Braunfels, TX has come a long way in just a few decades. Like Missouri, Illinois has long recognized an eggshell plaintiff has a right to receive compensation and any pre-existing injury or condition cannot defeat that right. While U-turns are generally legal in Texas and a convenient way to quickly change direction, theyre also known for leading to numerous car accidents. The rule states that, in a tort case, the unexpected frailty of the injured person is not a valid defense to the seriousness of any injury caused to them. The "eggshell skull" rule says that the person who hit the eggshell-skulled person is responsible for the much greater harm caused by the death, not just the amount of harm that a normal person would have suffered. Their skull is thin and delicate, like an eggshell. However, every case is unique. As a result, the medical bills are far more substantial for the mans treatment. In Owens v Liverpool Corp [1939] 1KB 394 , it was held that " it is no answer to a claim for a fractured skull that the owner had an unusually fragile one ". The fact that a person without an eggshell thin skull probably . However, they only recover $60,000. At times, some medical providers in the Greater Houston Area are not willing to offer testimony. The eggshell skull rule is only used to determine damages after it has been established that the defendant committed a wrongful act. This applies to any degree of harm the victim suffers that aggravates an existing condition or injury. A normal person would only have been bruised by the hit, but . The principle that a defendant is liable for a plaintiff's unforeseeable and uncommon reactions to the defendant's negligent or intentional act. Thats why its a good idea to consult with legal experts at a Houston personal injury law firm. If the person with OI is hit from behind in a motor vehicle collision and suffers medical damages (such as clavicle fracture), it would not be a valid defense to state that the osteogenesis imperfecta was the cause of the fracture. Eggshell skull refers to a legal doctrine, which holds that a defendants liability in a tort claim is not mitigated by a plaintiffs unforeseeable, pre-existing susceptibility to injury. There is no requirement of physical contact with the victim if a trespasser's wrongful presence on the victim's property so terrifies the victim that he has a fatal heart attack, the trespasser will be liable for the damages stemming from his original tort. Definition of Eggshell Skull Rule In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Eggshell Skull Rule : The rule that a *tortfeasor cannot complain if the injuries he has caused turn out to be more serious than expected because his victim suffered from a pre-existing weakness, such as an unusually thin skull. 08-20931-CIV, 2009 WL 10667070, at *6 (S.D. In our near-30 year history, Grossman Law Offices has won thousands of cases. thin skull . Depending on the percentage, the victim might not recover the full amount of damages. A man with a previous leg injury re-injures the leg in a truck accident. If an injury is not immediate, but a separate situation agitates the injury (such as the injured party being involved in a vehicular collision while being taken to a hospital), the tortfeasor is not liable under common law in Australia (see Haber v Walker,[11] and Mahoney v Kruschich Demolitions[12]). If you wait longer than two years to file a lawsuit, you may lose your chance to seek compensation. The principle states that victims should receive full compensation for their losses, even if the damages stemming from a pre-existing condition are . During the transport to a hospital, the ambulance collides with another vehicle. However, if the defendant can prove this would have been the case, it may have an impact on the amount of damages awarded. In-house law team, Smith v Leech Brain & Co Ltd [1962] 2 QB 405, Law of Tort Foreseeability Negligence Damages Remoteness of Damage Eggshell Skull Rule Causation. The information on this website is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship. Gulisano Law, PLLC. This means that if the injured partys pre-existing condition causes him or her to be seriously injured by that chalk toss, the law says, so be it. The examples and perspective in this article, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Intentional infliction of emotional distress, Negligent infliction of emotional distress, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eggshell_skull&oldid=1125949277, Articles with limited geographic scope from April 2021, Articles needing additional references from April 2021, All articles needing additional references, Articles lacking reliable references from April 2021, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 6 December 2022, at 19:02. This website should not be taken as legal advice. Ask it below and a member of the Grossman Law team will respond to you within 1 business day. The eggshell skull rule is a legal doctrine that argues that at-fault parties are not only liable for the injuries they cause, but the injuries that they worsen. The Eggshell Skull Rule is a doctrine that deals with accident victims who sustain injuries that are uncommonly serious because of pre-existing conditions. The question of liability was whether the defendant could reasonable foresee the injury. Eggshell skull rule is a principle of trots law that a defendant is liable for a plaintiff's unforeseeable and uncommon reactions to the defendant's negligent or intentional act. When you have trouble finding a doctor willing to treat you after a car accident with a potential case, call the legal team at Universal Law Group. The courts do not want the defendant or accused to rely on the victim's own vulnerability to avoid liability. An oft-cited example of a plaintiff whose injuries are covered by the eggshell plaintiff or Thin Skull Rule is one who suffers from hemophilia. 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