Abuse and the Eggshell Skull Rule
It suddenly occurred to me, having written “a difference between a victim and a survivor,” that there is a subjectivity to who can legitimately claim to have been abused. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I just found out about the eggshell skull rule.
It is worth knowing. This is a technical description of the eggshell skull ruler:
“Doctrine holding defendant liable for plaintiff’s unpredictable and unusual reactions to defendant’s intentional or negligent wrong [civil wrong]. If the defendant wrongfully commits against the plaintiff without a full defense, the defendant is liable for any damages that are magnified by the peculiar characteristics of the plaintiff.[1]
A simple explanation is this:
“The rule states that, in a wrong case, the unexpected frailty of the injured person is not a valid defense to the seriousness of any injury caused to him.”[2]
In the most common parlance, the eggshell skull rule dictates that if a person is hit in the head by a forcefully inflicted feather and sustains an injury, due to their skull being made of eggshell, the The blame lies squarely at the feet of the person wielding the pen. Isn’t it scary?
If we hurt someone, whether we wanted to or not, and they suffer an unforeseeable and especially rare injury, we are liable.
This rule is an accepted principle in common law. This law is the type that is practiced in court where a person can be sued for damages. It’s not the kind of court that sends you to jail.
What does this have to do with abuse? A lot, actually.
It means that we cannot tell a person that there was not enough force or reason to claim abuse. It means that abuse is now defined not so much by the act done against the person, but by the injuries suffered.
They may be particularly vulnerable people, and the damage caused would not have caused a more resilient person to suffer such damage.
The good thing about this principle of law is that it protects the most vulnerable people. The good news for the victim or survivor of abuse is that they do not need to prove that the level of abuse was unacceptable. They have the proof in their being.
As I understand it, if a person has PTSD, and they didn’t have it beforehand, and a single event triggered it, there, in that event, is the (potential) tort: liability. wrong. And this rule probably applies well beyond this specific example. (Being a lawyer myself, I write this simply to convey the existence of the rule.)
What can be said is that we must be very careful about what we call a false accusation from a true accusation.
There is a theoretical case of the woman who on separate occasions appears to speak of a sexual encounter, on the one hand, and claims to have been sexually assaulted, on the other. Some people would say it’s a false accusation, because she talked about it in blatant terms. Perhaps this was part of some strange (but not uncommon) coping mechanism. It may not seem right. Later, as she reflects, she recognizes the mental and emotional cost. She is depressed, desperate, unable to function. She may be diagnosed with PTSD. We can feel sorry for the man, for the way she initially spoke. But that doesn’t change the fact that the damage has already been done. This is just a theoretical example. I know how much discussion this example could generate, but my prayer is that we just reflect on this rule and its unequivocal power for vulnerable people.
I appreciate that there is a wide range of views on this topic.
I too have strong views, and they change a bit when exposed to new information. I am grateful for the eggshell skull rule, because it provides protection to those who have been inadvertently or deliberately injured.
It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do. What matters is the effect. This rule is designed to make us think deeply about What we interact with other people.
It is designed to motivate us to take care of people, because what better motivation than protecting oneself?
You could call the law an ass, but it is still the law, and it is only wisdom to follow it.
[1] Source: Cornell Law School
[2] Source: Wikipedia.