Can the defendant pay less because I was more fragile than an average person in Georgia?

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No. A defendant in Georgia generally cannot reduce what they owe by arguing that the injured person was unusually vulnerable. The long-standing rule is that a wrongdoer takes the victim as they find them, including any physical weakness or susceptibility that made the harm worse than it would have been for a hardier person.

The “eggshell plaintiff” principle

Courts often call this the eggshell-skull or thin-skull rule. The idea is that someone who negligently injures another is responsible for the actual harm caused, even if a healthier or sturdier person would have suffered less from the same impact. A person with brittle bones, a prior surgery site, or a delicate cardiovascular system is entitled to full compensation for the injuries that the negligence actually produced. The defendant does not get a discount for the victim’s fragility.

This rule reflects a basic fairness judgment in tort law. The person who created the risk, not the person who happened to be vulnerable, should bear the consequences of the resulting harm. Foreseeability of the exact severity is not required; the wrongdoer is liable for the extent of the injury they caused.

What the rule does and does not cover

The eggshell principle addresses how badly someone was hurt, not whether the defendant caused the harm in the first place. The injured person still must prove that the negligence was a cause of the injury. Once causation is established, fragility cannot be used to shrink the damages tied to that injury.

A related but separate concept is a pre-existing condition. If a person already had a degenerative back, the defendant is not responsible for the condition that existed before the accident, but is responsible for any worsening, or aggravation, that the accident caused. The thin-skull rule supports recovery for that aggravation in full.

  • The defendant pays for the harm actually inflicted, not a hypothetical average harm.
  • Unusual susceptibility neither increases nor decreases the defendant’s duty; it only affects how much damage the breach caused.
  • Causation must still be shown before the rule applies.

The bottom line

Georgia does not let a negligent party pay less simply because the injured person was more breakable than average. Once the negligence is shown to have caused the harm, the defendant is answerable for the full extent of that harm, fragility and all. The victim’s vulnerability is the defendant’s problem, not a basis for a reduced payout.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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