Opinion ID: 1351755
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Bystander Liability.

Text: The bystander exception to the rule against recovery for emotional distress without physical injury was specifically created to permit a plaintiff who is closely related to a victim of a serious injury to recover from the defendant who negligently inflicted the injury for the emotional distress suffered as a result of witnessing the victim's injury. See Barnhill, 300 N.W.2d at 108. It is based on a breach of the general duty not to negligently cause emotional distress to those who witness conduct that causes injuries to others under circumstances where emotional distress to the bystander is reasonably foreseeable. Matthew claims the exception should logically be extended to include witnessing injury to a defendant when, as in this case, all the other elements of a bystander claim are otherwise met. We refuse to extend the bystander exception beyond its intended scope and design. This exception was created to permit recovery for emotional distress for those who witness injury inflicted on the direct victim of a negligent act, and it imposes special limitations to recovery under such circumstances. The duty of care to support the claim is derivative of the general duty of care owed to the direct victim and extends to bystanders based on the foreseeability of emotional harm to bystanders under certain circumstances and conditions. We recognize the emotional injury to a bystander is separate from the underlying injury to the direct victim. Pekin Ins. Co. v. Hugh, 501 N.W.2d 508, 511 (Iowa 1993). Yet, the duty to the bystander is built on the duty owed to the direct victim. It is a general duty not to cause emotional distress to bystanders who witness injuries to others from negligent acts. In this case, Matthew brought the claim for emotional distress on behalf of Sasha as a direct victim of her mother's negligent conduct. Thus, any recovery requires a separate and independent duty of care owed to Sasha by her mother not to negligently inflict emotional distress. There must be a duty owed by the specific defendant to the specific plaintiff. Robinson v. United States, 175 F.Supp.2d 1215, 1226 (E.D.Cal.2001). The applicable duty under a direct victim theory of recovery is not the general duty of care not to inflict emotional distress to bystanders who witness injuries to others. Id. at 1225. Moreover, the special circumstances imposed in bystander claims do not apply to direct victim claims. Id. at 1226. Thus, even though the facts of this case reveal some of the same characteristics of a bystander claim, we must analyze Sasha's claim as other direct victim claims, where we have indicated that they must be based on the existence of a special relationship between the parties that supports the imposition of a specific duty of care to refrain from engaging in conduct that will inflict emotional distress. We accordingly turn to consider the claim under our second recognized exception.