Legal Question in Personal Injury in North Carolina

Re: Fragile Egg Theory

Under North Carolina law, and the law of most states, a Plaintiff can recover for all damages "proximately" caused by the negligence of another person (i.e. the Defendant). As a general matter, "proximate" cause means that the injuries were "foreseeable." The "eggshell skull" rule is sort of an adaptation, or exception, to that rule. The rule is very complicated in practice, but the general law of this matter is this: If the accident (e.g. auto accident) would not have caused any injury whatsoever to a person of "ordinary susceptibility," then the Plaintiff cannot recover for injuries due to his peculiar susceptibility to injury; if, however, a person of ordinary susceptibility would have sustained "some" injury in the accident, then he can recover for all of his injuries, even those which are not really "foreseeable." The origial case was where the Plaintiff had a condition where his skull was thin (i.e. as an eggshell), and he sustained some injury, and my recollection is that he could recover for his injuries, notwithstanding the fact that the extent of his injury was due to an unusually thin skull. The practical effect of the rule is that if there is some underlying condition (e.g. degenerative condition in spine), and an auto accident "aggravates" or worsens the symptoms, the Defendant is liable for all of that "aggravation," even though the Plaintiff also had some pre-existing condition. Theoretically, the Defendant is not liable for those injuries and symptoms which were already present, but only the "aggravation" or worsening of symptoms, pain, etc.