Underlining that the state and central consumer courts incorrectly applied the ‘eggshell skull’ legal principle, the Supreme Court on April 23 restored the compensation of Rs 5 lakhs awarded by the district consumer forum in a medical negligence case. Here is a look at the rule and the case. What is the ‘eggshell skull’ rule? The eggshell skull rule is a common law principle applied in civil litigation. Essentially, when the offender would be liable for all injuries that might be intensified due to the peculiar conditions of the injured person that the offender might not have known. Simply put, the defendant would be held responsible for injuries caused to a person when he hit him on the head, even if the victim had a particularly delicate skull or an ‘eggshell’ for a skull. “[A] person who has an eggshell skull would be more severely impacted by an act, which an otherwise “normal person” would be able to withstand,” the SC said in its judgment of the case. The rule is applied for claiming an …