As noted in Blackwater, the plaintiff is entitled to be placed in the position he or she would have been if not for the defendant’s negligence – no better or no worse. Tortfeasors must take their victims as they find them, even if the plaintiff’s injuries are more severe than they would be for a normal person (“the thin skull rule”). However, the defendant need not compensate the plaintiff for any debilitating effects of a pre-existing condition which the plaintiff would have experienced in any event (“the crumbling skull rule”): Athey v. Leonati, 1996 CanLII 183 (SCC), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 458 at paras. 32-35.
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