Another Crack in the Thin Skull Plaintiff Rule: Why Women with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Who Suffer Physical Harm from Abusive Environments at Work or School Should Recover from Employers and Educators
Texas Journal of Women and the Law, Vol. 20, No. 2, p. 101, 2011
Stetson University College of Law Research Paper No. 2012-17
29 Pages Posted: 23 Jul 2012
Date Written: 2011
Abstract
One tragic effect of childhood sexual abuse is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, which affects millions of women in the United States. Recent medical research shows that PTSD is a physical injury, not “just” a psychological one, and when its source is childhood sexual abuse it affects twice as many women as men. Abusive behavior at work and in school causes physical injury to the victims, and exposes the employer or educator to tort liability under the well-established “thin skull” plaintiff rule. Employers and educators should be able to reasonably foresee that large numbers of female students and employees already suffer from PTSD as a result of childhood abuse, and that abusive environments at work or at school will cause additional physical injuries to these women. Negligent employers and educators risk liability in tort under the “thin skull” plaintiff doctrine, and would be well advised to establish environments at work and at school that protect those who suffer from PTSD from further injury while simultaneously protecting the employer and educational institution from liability in tort.
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