Opinion ID: 2178388
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Commercial Contracts Preclude the Award of Emotional Distress Contract Damages

Text: In ordinary commercial transactions which primarily involve matters of pecuniary aggrandizement, emotion and sentiment are generally deemed to have little place in arms-length bargaining since the dominant contractual purpose is one of promoting a pecuniary interest. As a consequence, recovery of emotional distress damages has been almost uniformly denied in redressing the promisee's loss of the bargain since such damages are generally neither within the parties' contemplation nor do they naturally flow from the breach. See, e.g., Jankowski v Mazzotta, 7 Mich App 483, 486-487; 152 NW2d 49 (1967) (breach of contract to build a house due to substandard handiwork); Isagholian v Carnegie Institute of Detroit, Inc, 51 Mich App 220; 214 NW2d 864 (1974) (breach of employment contract). In accordance with the limitation of Hadley v Baxendale , this Court has stated with respect to such instances: In such cases breach of contract may cause worry and anxiety varying in degree and kind from contract to contract, depending on the urgencies thereof, the state of mind of the contracting parties, and other elements, but it has long been settled that recovery therefor was not contemplated by the parties as the `natural and probable' result of the breach. Hadley v Baxendale, 9 Exch 341; 156 Eng Rep 145; Clark v Moore, 3 Mich 55 [1853]; Miholevich v Mid-West Mutual Auto Ins Co, 261 Mich 495; 246 NW 202; 86 ALR 633 [1933]; Frederick v Hillebrand, 199 Mich 333; 165 NW 810. Stewart, supra, 469. (Emphasis added.) In essence, an award of emotional distress damages for breach of commercial contract has been judicially considered to far exceed the injured promisee's expectation interest; consequently, such an award would impermissibly afford that party more than the benefit of the bargain. But see F Becker Asphaltum Roofing Co v Murphy, 224 Ala 655; 141 So 630 (1932) (breach of warranty of roofing materials which leaked); Westesen v Olathe State Bank, 78 Colo 217; 240 P 689 (1925) (breach of contract by bank to honor draft drawn by plaintiff traveling away from home).