What is the test for a plaintiff's claim for damages arising from the abuse of her foster child?

As Mr. Justice Major stressed in Athey v. Leonati, supra, a first principle in tort compensation is to place the victim in the position he or she would have been had the tort not occurred. For these purposes the plaintiff's original position is that of a four year old foster child. She may have been vulnerable to later psychological disturbances because of early separations and because of a genetic predisposition to alcoholism, but nothing in the ensuing nine years arises as a cause of harm independent of the son's abuse. Even if it could be said that other non-tortious causes contributed to the plaintiff's condition, so long as the tort was a material contribution to the harm (the 60% apportionment takes it beyond de minimis), the plaintiff is entitled to full recovery from the wrongdoers. This is explained by Major J. in Athey at 468 and 469: