Opinion ID: 1179849
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: mental distress

Text: Pacesetter relies on our decision in Rodrigues v. State, 52 Haw. 156, 472 P.2d 509 (1970), to assert that a claim for mental distress exists only in a negligence action and not in an action for breach of implied warranty. Pacesetter argues that extending such recoveries to implied warranty actions would result in an unlimited extension of liability. Courts have been reluctant to recognize an individual's interest in freedom from mental disturbance and have imposed restrictions on these recoveries over and above those required to prove liability for other forms of personal injuries. Keeton, supra, § 54 at 359-60. Reasons for these restrictions include the concern that the difficulty of distinguishing between fraudulent, trivial, and serious injuries will result in unlimited liability, as well as the fear that mental distress recoveries will impose burdens on defendants disproportionate to their culpability. Id.; Rodrigues, 52 Haw. at 169-72; 472 P.2d at 519; P. Joseph, Dillon's Other Leg: The Extension of the Doctrine Which Permits Bystander Recovery for Emotional Trauma and Physical Injuries to Actions Based on Strict Liability in Tort, 18 Duq.L.Rev. 1, 7-16 (1979). Among the devices utilized to limit liability and provide additional guarantees of the genuineness of plaintiffs' claims are the requirements that a plaintiff: (1) experience a physical impact; (2) exhibit physical symptoms of harm; or (3) be in the zone of danger created by the defendant's act. S. Mead, Recovery for Psychic Harm in Strict Products Liability: Has the Interest in Psychic Equilibrium Come the Final Mile?, 59 St. John's L.Rev. 457, 470-73 (1985). Both physical injury rules have been criticized as inadequate methods of distinguishing between worthy and unworthy claims. Id. at 471-72. The impact rule has been repudiated by a majority of courts because of its absurd results and arbitrary nature. Harper, James & Gray, The Law of Torts, supra, § 18.4 at 686-67. The zone of danger rule has been found inadequate to discern the genuineness of an injury where a plaintiff claims psychic harm caused by observing injury to a loved one. Mead, supra, at 473. In a landmark decision, Dillon v. Legg, 68 Cal.2d 728, 69 Cal.Rptr. 72, 441 P.2d 912 (1968), the Supreme Court of California rejected the zone of danger rule and replaced it with a series of requirements designed to determine whether a bystander observing an accident would foreseeably suffer serious mental harm. In Rodrigues this court went a step further than Dillon, establishing an independent duty to refrain from the negligent infliction of serious mental distress, utilizing ordinary negligence principles to limit recovery and declining formally to adopt the Dillon foreseeability requirements. Rodrigues, 52 Haw. at 174, 472 P.2d at 520-21. This court reasoned that the trial court and jury were equipped to determine the genuineness and sufficiency of a plaintiff's injury given the current sophistication of the medical profession as well as the standard of proof limiting mental distress recoveries. Id. at 172, 472 P.2d at 519-20. Under Rodrigues, a duty is owed only to those who would foreseeably suffer severe mental distress as a result of those risks or hazards whose likelihood made a defendant's conduct unreasonably dangerous. Further, mental distress is compensable only if a normally constituted reasonable person would experience serious distress, that is, distress that is not trivial and transient or part and parcel of everyday life in a community.... Id. at 172-73, 472 P.2d at 520. Other jurisdictions have generally allowed recovery for mental distress in strict products liability actions despite differences between negligence and strict liability theories of recovery. See, e.g., Anderson v. Whittaker Corp., 894 F.2d 804 (6th Cir.1990); Obieli v. Campbell Soup Co., 623 F.2d 668 (10th Cir.1980); Mauro v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 225 N.J.Super. 196, 542 A.2d 16 (1988), aff'd, 116 N.J. 126, 561 A.2d 257 (1989). The few jurisdictions that have refused to extend mental distress recoveries to strict liability actions have done so by resorting to a formalistic distinction between negligence and strict liability via a narrow construction of the physical harm requirement of § 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Woodill v. Parke Davis & Co., 58 Ill.App.3d 349, 15 Ill.Dec. 900, 374 N.E.2d 683 (1978), aff'd, 79 Ill.2d 26, 38, 37 Ill.Dec. 304, 310, 402 N.E.2d 194, 200 (1980) (the court also stated that case law allowed a cause of action only for severe emotional distress caused by intentional conduct); Croteau v. Olin Corp., 704 F.Supp. 318 (D.N.H.), aff'd, 884 F.2d 45 (1st Cir.1989). Further, in Iowa, where the law of products liability and mental distress in quite similar to that in Hawaii, the Iowa Supreme Court has allowed bystanders to recover for mental distress in actions for breach of implied warranty. [13] In Walker v. Clark Equip. Co., 320 N.W.2d 561 (Iowa 1982), the court stated that it saw no qualitative difference, once liability is found, between recoveries under theories of negligence, strict liability, or warranty, and that a plaintiff should recover all damages cognizable under the law and supported by the evidence. Id. at 563. Like Iowa, we do not believe that a reasonable line may be drawn between mental distress recoveries in implied warranty, strict products, and negligence actions. In Rodrigues, we established that genuine mental distress was a legally cognizable injury. 52 Haw. at 174, 472 P.2d at 520. Genuine mental distress thus falls within the terms of HRS § 490:2-318, which provides: A seller's warranty whether express or implied extends to any person who may reasonably be expected to use, consume or be affected by the goods and who is injured by breach of the warranty. Allowing a mental distress recovery in a products liability suit is justified by and comports with the policies validating strict products liability in the first place, among which are compensation of injured consumers, encouragement of the development of safe products, and imposition of the cost of injury on the party best able to bear and distribute that cost. The primary problem presented by extension of liability to the strict products context would be the effect of imposing unlimited liability on product sellers and manufacturers, and thus on the consuming public. However, we have already addressed general concerns regarding controlling and limiting liability for mental distress in Rodrigues. Finally, we note that a defendant may request remittitur following trial or on appeal if a plaintiff's recovery is excessive. Bartlett v. Hawaiian Carriage Mfg. Co., 13 Haw. 313 (1901). Cf. R. Miller, The Scope of Liability for Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress: Making The Punishment Fit the Crime, U.Haw.L.Rev. 1 (1979) (suggesting that damages recoverable for mental distress be limited to tangible economic loss). Seeing no principled basis by which we may distinguish between physical and psychic injury proximately caused by defective products, or otherwise restrict mental distress recoveries in the products liability context, we conclude that plaintiff may recover damages for mental distress in an implied warranty action.