What is the exception of the eggshell skull rule?

Asked by: Kitty Leffler  |  Last update: August 24, 2025
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Intervening cause is typically an exception to the eggshell skull rule.

What is the egg shell skull rule law teacher?

What is the Eggshell Skull Rule? The eggshell skull rule comes from an example used to teach this intuitive principle in law school. If there is a man with a medical condition that makes his skill as delicate as an eggshell, he would be more likely to suffer severe injury than others due to this medical condition.

Does the eggshell plaintiff rule apply to intentional torts?

Los Angeles Transit Lines, (1954) 124 Cal. App. 2d 466.) This type of highly susceptible plaintiff is commonly known as an “eggshell plaintiff.” The eggshell-plaintiff doctrine applies to all areas of the law – intentional torts, negligence, strict liability, and criminal law.

What is the eggshell skull rule for psychiatric injury?

The 'Egg-shell Skull' Rule

Secondly, the 'egg-shell skull' (as often seen in criminal law) applies to psychiatric injury. In essence, this means that a claimant's particular psychiatric injury does not need to be foreseeable - the mere fact that some psychiatric harm is foreseeable is enough to satisfy the criteria.

What is an example of an eggshell skull?

A common example of this doctrine is that a person's skull was very thin due to the person's own health condition, if the person gets into an accident, the other person who caused the accident will be liable for the actual damages , although the average person would not suffer the same serious injuries in the same ...

What is the Eggshell Rule? House of Law Ep. 19

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What is the eggshell skull rule?

The Meaning of the Eggshell Skull Rule

The Eggshell Skull Rule states that a defendant in a personal injury case will be responsible for the damage caused as-is, even if the victim had a pre-existing condition that made him or her predisposed to serious injury.

Does the eggshell skull rule apply to emotional injuries?

Application in Personal Injury Litigation

In addition to physical damages, the eggshell skull doctrine may also apply to emotional injuries. Each state has a varying approach to the application of the rule to emotional damages.

What is the eggshell plaintiff rule in criminal law?

The “Eggshell Plaintiff”

Essentially, this rule states that just because a plaintiff was particularly vulnerable to harm does not change a defendant's culpability for their injuries.

What is the golden rule for head injury?

The Golden Hour refers to the first hour after a traumatic injury, during which immediate and appropriate medical care can significantly improve a patient's chances of survival and recovery.

What is the criteria for being legally insane?

Penal Code section 1026, et. Seq.

Legal insanity requires that the person, by reason of mental disease or defect was incapable of either: Knowing the nature of his or her act. Understanding the nature of his or her act. Distinguishing between right and wrong at the time of commission of the crime.

What is the crumbling skull rule?

The crumbling skull rule deals with a plaintiff that has an unstable pre-existing condition. The defendant need not compensate the plaintiff for the effects of their condition, which they would have experienced anyway. The defendant is liable for additional damage, but not the pre-existing damage.

How do you prove intentional tort?

In other words, a plaintiff needs to prove that the defendant meant to hurt him or her, understood the actions would result in the harm, or acted without showing any caution. If you hit someone in order to hurt him, intent is straightforward.

What is the last clear chance doctrine?

The doctrine considers which party had the last opportunity to avoid the accident that caused the harm. Therefore, a negligent plaintiff may recover damages if they can show that the defendant had the last clear chance to avoid the accident.

Is anxiety a medically recognised psychiatric illness?

The main difference is that whilst both mental stress and psychiatric illnesses – such as anxiety – are widely recognised medical conditions, the term 'psychiatric injury' only applies when it results from a traumatic event in the workplace.

What breaks the chain of causation?

When is the chain of causation broken? The intervening must not be reasonably foreseeable and must significantly contribute to the final consequences or result. The intervening act can be caused by various parties or factors, including the Claimant themself, third parties or even an act of God.

What is a primary victim of a psychiatric injury?

Defining the primary victim

A primary victim is a claimant who was directly involved as a participant in the incident that caused their psychiatric injury.

What is the platinum 10 minutes?

An analogous concept, the “platinum 10 minutes” places a time constraint on the pre-hospital care of seriously injured patients: no patient should have more than 10 min of scene-time stabilization by the prehospital team prior to transport to definitive care at a trauma centre.

Can you prove a head injury?

Brain imaging techniques such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging (commonly referred to as CT scan and MRI, respectively) can sometimes capture signs of traumatic-brain injury.

Which is the golden hour for the victim?

The 'GOLDEN HOUR', the first hour after the trauma is called the 'golden hour' Instant and proper first aid given to road accident victims during this hour increases the chance of survival manifold and reduce the severity of injuries.

What is an example of the eggshell skull rule?

Well, imagine a fragile eggshell and a normal skull. If someone negligently bumps into the eggshell and it cracks, they are still liable for breaking the eggshell even though a normal skull wouldn't have been damaged.

What is the talem qualem rule?

This is the kind of situation catered for by the talem qualem rule. This rule provides that a wrongdoer takes his victim as he finds him. 1 A defendant cannot use the extraordinary vulnerability of the plaintiff as a defence. 1 Smit v Abrahams 1994 (4) SA 158 (K).

What is a superseding cause?

A superseding cause is a new independent cause that breaks the chain of proximate causation between a defendant's negligence and an [injury] [event].

How do courts determine infliction of emotional distress?

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Plaintiffs must prove that the defendant's actions were egregious, done with reckless disregard, or intended to cause distress. Plaintiffs must also demonstrate that the event directly resulted in their emotional suffering and other losses.

What is crumbling skull rule?

Under the “crumbling skull” rule, if a pre-existing condition would have detrimentally affected the plaintiff in the future, regardless of the defendant's negligence, then this is to be factored in as a reduction of the “overall award”.

What is contributory negligence?

Contributory negligence is a common law tort rule which bars plaintiffs from recovering for the negligence of others if they too were negligent in causing the harm. Contributory negligence has been replaced in many jurisdictions with the doctrine of comparative negligence .