Vosburg v Putney
Citation: Vosburg v Putney, 80 Wis. 523; 50 N.W. 403; 1891 Wisc. LEXIS 234
Parties:
- Vosburg (plaintiff, respondent)
- Putney (defendant, appellant)
Facts:
- Vosburg, 11, and Putney, 14, were classmates at school and were sitting across from each other when Putney kicked Vosburg’s right shin. Vosburg didn’t even really feel it at the time, but moments later felt a violent pain in the area. The next day, he became sick and got progressively worse.
- Four days later he finally saw a doctor and his leg was all kinds of messed up, the doctor had to drain a ton of puss out of the area and the bone was deteriorating. The doctor later said he would never regain full function of the limb.
- Vosburg had injured the leg about 3 weeks prior, and it was trying to heal up. Medical opinions said that the kick likely caused that injury/infection to become even worse and while there was no mark from the kick itself, the kick was the cause of the revival of the OG injury.
Procedural History:
- In trial court, judgement for $2800 was rendered to plaintiff. Putney appealed
- The plaintiff moved for judgment on the verdict in his favor. The motions of defendant were overruled by the circuit court, and that of the plaintiff granted. Thereupon judgment for plaintiff for $ 2,500 damages and costs of suit was duly entered. The defendant appeals from the judgment
- Now in Supreme Court of Wisconsin
Issue:
- (1) Was the intent to kick the plaintiff unlawful if the defendant did not intend to cause harm?
- (2) Is the defendant still liable if he could not have reasonably foreseen the harm that would be caused by his action?
Rule:
- A defendant is liable for all damages resulting from an intentional unlawful act, even if the harm was greater than expected or unforeseen.
Holding:
- (1) Yes, the kick was unlawful
- (2) Yes, Putney is liable for damages resulting from any injury resulting from the kick, foreseeable or not.
Reasoning:
- Putney intentionally kicked Vosburg in the shin during school. Though it was slight and not meant to cause injury, the act occurred after school had begun, where such behavior was considered inappropriate and unlawful. If it had happened on the playground while playing soccer, it would not have been unlawful because that is an assumed risk of doing that activity. Here, Vosburg could not have expected to be kicked in the shin while sitting in class.
- The Eggshell Skull rule says that a tortfeasor must take their victim as they find them. Just because it would not have done anything to most people does not mean that you aren’t liable for the full damages because you did it to the one person on Earth that it would have hurt.
Decision:
- Putney was held liable for Vosburg’s full damages, including medical costs and suffering from the long-term injury.
- The judgement of the circuit court was actually reversed because of a different error stemming from an expert witness testimony, and the trial remanded on the basis of that error.
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. This case brief and the others on this website are based solely on my personal understanding of the underlying case. They emphasize the points that my law professors emphasized. You should use them merely as a supplement to your own studies.