NC · jury_instructions
N.C.P.I.—Motor Vehicle 102.22
PROXIMATE CAUSE—ACTIVATION/AGGRAVATION.
The defendant is not liable for damages attributable solely to the pre-existing [physical] [mental] condition of the plaintiff.1 Instead, the defendant
is liable only to the extent that the defendant’s wrongful act proximately and
naturally [aggravated] [activated] the plaintiff's pre-existing [physical]
[mental] condition.2
[When the result of the defendant’s negligence is to activate a [physical]
[mental] condition of the plaintiff [that was dormant] [to which the plaintiff is
predisposed], the defendant is liable for the entire damages which result from
the [[physical] [mental]] [[dormant] [pre-disposed]] condition becoming
active.]3
[When the defendant’s negligence does not cause a [physical] [mental]
condition of the plaintiff, but only aggravates and increases the severity of a
condition existing at the time of the plaintiff’s injury, the plaintiff’s recovery in
damages is limited to the additional injury caused by the aggravation over and
above the consequences, which the pre-existing [physical] [mental] condition,
running its normal course, would itself have caused if there had been no
aggravation by the defendant.]4
History
N.C.P.I.—Motor Vehicle 102.22 (February 2024). Prepared by the North Carolina Conference of Superior Court Judges' Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions, assisted by the UNC School of Government; published by the School of Government.
Provenance
- Source
- sog.unc.edu
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-25
- Edition
- 2026-09-24
- Content hash
2943b94db0a609131c8686d971b8c53df508c86e6a92e502db665d05c138cd11
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