Opinion ID: 1800200
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The State of Common Law Regarding the Recognition of a Medical Monitoring Cause of Action Which Allows Recovery Without a Showing of Physical Damage

Text: Mississippi Law ¶ 5. Plaintiffs contend that recognition of a medical monitoring action is in accordance with Mississippi law; however, the decisions of this Court do not support that contention. To prevail on a negligence claim, a plaintiff must establish by a preponderance of the evidence each of the elements of negligence: duty, breach, causation and injury. Miss. Dep't of Mental Health v. Hall, 936 So.2d 917, 922 (Miss. 2006). Creating a medical monitoring action would be contrary to Mississippi common law, which does not allow recovery for negligence without showing an identifiable injury, and, further, strongly indicates that a claim for medical monitoring, as Plaintiffs present it, lacks an injury. ¶ 6. Plaintiffs claim they should be able to recover damages in the form of medical monitoring costs solely on the basis that they have been exposed to harmful levels of beryllium and are in danger of suffering from latent diseases. Plaintiffs cite Leaf River Forest Products, Inc. v. Ferguson, 662 So.2d 648 (Miss.1995), an emotional distress case, for the proposition that Mississippi previously recognized a similar tort cause of action without present physical injury. Defendants contend that Ferguson, in fact, requires an actual, present injury. ¶ 7. As it pertains here, the law supports Defendants. In Ferguson, this Court held that proof of an injury is required in negligence cases. Id. at 650, 657-58. In Ferguson the Court listed two circumstances under which recovery for emotional distress without physical injury is allowed. Both require the presence of an injury, with the only distinction being the additional element of proof required. ¶ 8. The first involves a claim of outrageous conduct. [W]here there is something about the defendant's conduct which evokes outrage or revulsion, done intentionally  or even unintentionally yet the results being foreseeable  Courts can in certain circumstances comfortably assess damages for mental and emotional stress, even though there has been no physical injury. Id. at 658. In such instances, it is the nature of the act itself  as opposed to the seriousness of the consequences  which gives impetus to legal redress. Id. ¶ 9. The first instance does not lack an injury requirement but recognizes that injury is not restricted to physical injury, also encompassing mental and emotional injuries as compensable. Some consequence of the defendants' actions must be shown; however, in cases of outrageous conduct the primary consideration for redress is not the consequence, i.e., the injury, but, rather, an additional element of proof, the defendant's outrageous conduct. Accordingly, recovery in emotional distress cases is possible without a physical injury. Beyond evidence of emotional distress, which is the injury, the plaintiff must show that the defendant's conduct was willful, wanton, malicious, outrageous or intentional. Adams v. U.S. Homecrafters, Inc. 744 So.2d 736, 743 (Miss.1999); Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Devers, 405 So.2d 898, 902 (Miss. 1981). Here, the Plaintiffs' pleadings and briefs lack allegations or arguments suggesting willful, wanton, malicious, outrageous or intentional conduct by defendants, [1] thereby eliminating this category and leaving for analysis the second instance in which recovery is allowed for emotional distress without physical injury. ¶ 10. In the second instance, tort recovery is allowed [e]ven in the absence of physical injury accompanying the negligent conduct, if there is a resulting physical illness or assault upon the mind, personality or nervous system of the plaintiff which is medically cognizable and which requires or necessitates treatment by the medical profession. Ferguson, 662 So.2d at 658. The test of reasonable foreseeability must also be met. Id. ¶ 11. Presenting no allegations of outrageous conduct, this case involves a claim of simple negligence as in this second instance. Again, though no physical injury is required, the person claiming emotional distress must prove that he has incurred a mental or emotional injury. The additional proof in this instance beyond showing an injury is that the injury is medically cognizable and treatable. In such a case of ordinary negligence a plaintiff may not recover damages for emotional distress without showing a physical manifestation of injury or demonstrable harm. See Summers ex rel. Dawson v. St. Andrew's Episcopal Sch., Inc., 759 So.2d 1203, 1211 (Miss.2000) (holding that where there is ordinary negligence, there must be demonstrative harm); Wilson v. Gen. Motors Acceptance Corp., 883 So.2d 56, 65 (Miss.2004) (same); Ill. Cent. R.R. v. Hawkins, 830 So.2d 1162, 1174 (Miss.2002) (same); Am. Bankers' Ins. Co. of Fla. v. Wells, 819 So.2d 1196, 1209 (Miss.2001) (same). ¶ 12. Ferguson does not, as Plaintiffs suggest, lead to the logical inference that this Court would recognize a medical monitoring action, whereby the plaintiffs need not show an injury. Similarly, as for the conclusion in Ferguson, this Court reversed the trial court award of damages for emotional distress allegedly caused by a fear of future illness since manifestation of physical illness or scientific support for the emotional injury is required before recovery is allowed. 662 So.2d at 650. Further, as noted in Ferguson, this Court has never allowed or affirmed a claim of emotional distress based [solely] on a fear of contracting a disease or illness in the future, however reasonable. Id. at 658. ¶ 13. Though plaintiffs analogize emotional distress actions to medical monitoring actions, the two claims are not analogous. One element of an emotional distress action is that the victim have suffered some injury. Hawkins, 830 So.2d at 1174. Yet, a medical monitoring cause of action, as Plaintiffs present it, would not require an injury be proven. Thus, this Court rejects the argument that emotional distress decisions from this Court establish a legal foundation for the creation of a medical monitoring action, without requiring proof. ¶ 14. Likewise, Mississippi law does not recognize a claim for medical monitoring based on increased risk of future disease. In Anglado v. Leaf River Forest Products, Inc., 716 So.2d 543, 546 (Miss.1998), during the trial court determination of whether to grant summary judgment for the defendants on the plaintiffs' claims of increased risk of future disease and medical monitoring, this Court decided Ferguson. As a result, plaintiffs conceded that Ferguson foreclosed recovery for those claims, and the trial court granted summary judgment on the plaintiffs' personal injury claims, dismissing them with prejudice. Id. This Court affirmed that judgment. Id. at 549. ¶ 15. The possibility of a future injury is insufficient to maintain a tort claim. Recognizing a medical monitoring cause of action would be akin to recognizing a cause of action for fear of future illness. Each bases a claim for damages on the possibility of incurring an illness with no present manifest injury. There is no tort cause of action in Mississippi without some identifiable injury, either physical or emotional. Thus, this Court has held that it is clear that Mississippi does not recognize a cause of action for fear of possibly contracting a disease at some point in the future. Brewton v. Reichhold Chemicals, Inc., 707 So.2d 618, 620 (Miss. 1998) (citing Beech v. Leaf River Forest Prods., Inc., 691 So.2d 446, 451 (Miss. 1997); Ferguson, 662 So.2d at 658 (for the same proposition)). ¶ 16. Further, the determination of whether Mississippi can recognize a medical monitoring action hinges on whether the purported cause of action includes a compensable injury. The United States Supreme Court has held that [a]n exposed plaintiff can recover related reasonable medical monitoring costs [as an element of damages] if and when he develops symptoms. (Emphasis added). Metro-North Commuter R.R. v. Buckley, 521 U.S. 424, 432, 117 S.Ct. 2113, 138 L.Ed.2d 560 (1997). This Court has held that exposure to a dangerous substance is not an injury. Owens-Illinois, Inc. v. Edwards, 573 So.2d 704, 705-09 (Miss.1990). Exposure to a potentially harmful substance does not in itself constitute a personal injury. Id. Persons who allege only exposure are asking for a remedy without a wrong. Schiro v. Am. Tobacco Co., 611 So.2d 962, 965 (Miss.1992). Therefore, plaintiffs have a claim for harm which is not compensable under Mississippi law. Accordingly, it would be contrary to current Mississippi law to recognize a claim for medical monitoring allowing a plaintiff to recover medical monitoring costs for mere exposure to a harmful substance without proof of current physical or emotional injury from that exposure. Other States ¶ 17. The United States Supreme Court has examined the common law for the allowance of recovery for negligently caused exposure by a plaintiff who has yet to suffer from a disease. [2] Buckley, 521 U.S. at 432, 117 S.Ct. 2113 (holding that an employee could not recover damages and medical monitoring costs under the Federal Employers' Liability Act unless or until he manifested symptoms of a disease). The Court found that with few exceptions, common law courts have denied recovery to those who are disease and symptom free. Id. The Court concluded that to recognize medical monitoring costs alone as a separate injury is to go beyond the bounds of currently evolving common law. Id. at 439, 117 S.Ct. 2113. Accordingly, as plaintiffs invite this Court to recognize a medical monitoring cause of action, an act which would require an unprecedented and unfounded departure from the long-standing traditional elements of a tort action, this Court declines that invitation. ¶ 18. Plaintiffs argue that because a majority of states recognize a medical monitoring cause of action, this Court should as well. In support of their contention that the majority of states recognize medical monitoring actions, plaintiffs cite seven states as having actually recognized the cause of action [3] and five as having predicted such a cause of action. [4] Defendants counter with seventeen cases illustrative of the refusal of various states to recognize a medical monitoring cause of action. [5] This is obviously an issue of divided authority among our sister states. ¶ 19. Plaintiffs overestimate the persuasiveness of other states' decisions on this Court. The extent of the usefulness of the citations provided by both parties is the establishment of the existence of a conflict among jurisdictions over this matter, as is the case concerning numerous other issues. This Court is not bound by the decisions of courts of other jurisdictions on similar questions. Griffith v. Gulf Ref. Co., 215 Miss. 15, 36-37, 61 So.2d 306, 307 (1952). While the Court may utilize these decisions as persuasive authority if it finds them well-reasoned, the decisions are not binding, and this Court is at perfect liberty to disregard them. Id. ¶ 20. This Court need not survey other states to reach a conclusion on this matter. Likewise, this Court is not persuaded by Plaintiffs' mention of the Department of Energy's practice of requiring medical monitoring costs for its employees as a condition of all of its contracts with beryllium fabricators. See 10 C.F.R. §§ 850, et seq. Considering Mississippi law, this Court finds that as Mississippi requires the traditional elements of proof in a tort action, it has refused to recognize a category of potential illness actions, which would include medical monitoring actions. Therefore, this Court preserves the requirement of each of the traditional tort elements and declines to recognize medical monitoring as a cause of action.