Court Opinion

ID: 9572381
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:41:16.429945+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:32:42.128699
License: Public Domain

HARRIS, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. When we first recognized bystander claims we repeatedly characterized the claim as one for emotional distress. Barnhill v. Davis, 300 N.W.2d 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 (Iowa 1981).
In later cases we continued to characterize the bystander claim as one for emotional distress. Fineran v. Pickett, 465 N.W.2d 662, 664 (Iowa 1991) (“bystander recovery for emotional distress”; “right to recover emotional distress damages”; “liability for emotional distress”); Niblo v. Parr Mfg., Inc., 445 N.W.2d 351, 354 (Iowa 1989) (“[w]e have allowed recovery for emotional distress without physical injury ... when a bystander suffered mental distress caused by witnessing the negligent infliction of serious injury to a close relative”); Oberreuter v. Orion Indus., Inc., 342 N.W.2d 492, 494 (Iowa 1984) (“[Recovery for negligent infliction of emotional distress is intended to compensate plaintiff ... for the emotional trauma caused by plaintiff’s visceral participation in the event. It is the added horror of witnessing (and probably endlessly reliving) the tragedy that is compensable, other Barnhill elements being present.”).
As the majority concedes, the question in this case is straightforward: assuming the bystander’s claim can be proven, does the injury constitute (1) a bodily injury to the party making the claim (in this case, Hope and Aubrey), or (2) merely a personal injury to the party making the claim? If the former, for purposes of insurance coverage, the bystander claim would be independently compensable up to the full $100,000 “per person” limit (subject only to the $300,000 “per occurrence” limit). If the *513latter, for purposes of insurance coverage, the bystander claim merely arises out of the bodily injury of another insured and would be compensable only to the extent to which the damages from the other insured’s bodily injury do not reach the $100,-000 “per person” limit. See Lepic v. Iowa Mut. Ins. Co., 402 N.W.2d 758 (Iowa 1987) (holding (1) loss of consortium may be a personal injury but cannot be a bodily injury under an underinsured motorist provision, and (2) “the ‘each person’ liability limit in [the relevant insurance policies] caps recovery for all claims arising from one bodily injury”).
I think the correct answer is the second one. The claim is not for bodily injury; it is a personal injury claim. The second answer is demanded as a result of our consistent conclusion that the injury is for emotional distress. In Dahlke v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 451 N.W.2d 813 (Iowa 1990), we held the psychological and physical effects on parents arising from the loss of their son, who was killed in a collision with an uninsured driver, are not “bodily injuries” under the applicable insurance policies. We stated in Dahlke that “the term ‘bodily injury’ is clear on its face and does not include the physical manifestations of the parents’ loss_” Dahlke, 451 N.W.2d at 815. In short, Dahlke stands for the proposition that emotional distress, even where accompanied by resulting physical manifestations, cannot be considered bodily injury. I am convinced that the majority’s decision is contrary to our holding in Dahlke.
That Dahlke involved a loss of consortium claim is a distinction without a difference for purposes here. The insurance policy in Dahlke, unlike the policy in this case, did not except loss of consortium claims from claims for bodily injury. Dahlke, like this case, addressed the question whether emotional distress — although in the context of a loss of consortium claim rather than a bystander claim — is a bodily injury or a personal injury. Dahlke said it is a personal injury. In reaching this conclusion we relied in part on cases not involving loss of consortium claims. Id. The majority nevertheless says emotional distress can be a bodily injury, and that this is a fact question dependent upon the “physical aspect” of the emotional disturbance.
In all respect I think the majority is led astray by its focus on whether the injury is a separate bodily injury, i.e., not a direct consequence of and dependent upon an underlying injury. That the injury in a bystander claim is separate and not dependent on an underlying injury in no way detracts from the fact that the claim is one for emotional distress. In deciding whether there was coverage under the policy, the question should be whether emotional distress is a bodily injury or a personal injury. More specifically the question should be whether emotional distress can at any time be a bodily injury. Dahlke says it cannot.
Once it has been determined that the injury underlying a bystander claim is not a bodily injury, for purposes of insurance coverage here the injury must be seen as a personal injury arising out of the bodily injury of another insured. As such, the injury, i.e., emotional distress, is compensa-ble only to the extent the damages from the other insured’s bodily injury do not reach the $100,000 “per person” limit. See Lepic, 402 N.W.2d at 759.
Pekin discharged its full obligation under the policy by paying the “per person” limits for the bodily injuries suffered by Tabitha and Emma. Summary judgment should have been entered accordingly for Pekin. I would reverse.
McGIVERIN and LARSON, JJ., join this dissent.