Court Opinion

ID: 9614756
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:27:56.601806+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:40.181510
License: Public Domain

Smith, Justice,
concurring specially.
We granted the writ of certiorari in this case to decide whether Mr. and Mrs. Littleton, plaintiffs/appellees, could recover for the wrongful death of their daughter and whether Mrs. Littleton could recover for her mental suffering and emotional distress. The rule in Georgia since 1892 when this Court decided Chapman v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 88 Ga. 763 (15 SE 901) (1892), has been:
Where there is a physical injury or pecuniary loss, compensatory damages include recovery for accompanying “mental pain and suffering” even though the tortious conduct complained of is merely negligent. [Cits.]
Westview Cemetery v. Blanchard, 234 Ga. 540, 543 (216 SE2d 776) (1975). As can be seen below, there are concerns in allowing recovery for purely emotional distress; however, the fear of some fabricated emotional distress claims should not prevent all who suffer emotional distress from recovery.
Mental disturbance is easily simulated, and courts which are plagued with fraudulent personal injury claims may be unwilling to open the door to an even more dubious field. But the difficulties may not be insuperable. Not only fright and shock, but other kinds of mental injury are marked by definite physical symptoms, which are capable of medical or other objective proof. It is entirely possible to allow recovery only upon satisfactory evidence and deny it when there is nothing to corroborate the claim, or to look for some guarantee of genuineness in the circumstances of the case. The problem from this perspective is one of adequate proof, and it is not necessary to deny a remedy in all cases because some claims may be false. And where the concern is to avoid imposing excessive punishment upon a negligent defendant, it must be asked whether fairness will permit leaving the burden of loss instead upon the innocent victim. . . . [Cits, omitted.] [Keeton, Prosser & Keeton on The Law of Torts 361 (5th ed. 1984).]
As I understand the majority’s holding, if Mrs. Littleton suffered any physical injury connected with the birth of her daughter, then a jury must decide whether she should recover for emotional distress [mental pain and suffering]. I agree with this, but I believe it is time to re-examine this area of the law so that it is more in line with the needs of society. I agree with the states that allow recovery for emo*670tional distress even in the absence of a physical injury or “impact.”
Decided December 5, 1989.
Watson, Spence, Low & Chambless, G. Stuart Watson, Dawn G. Benson, for appellants.
William S. Stone, for appellees.
Alston & Bird, G. Conley Ingram, Judson Graves, Richard L. Greene, Butler, Wooten, Overby & Cheeley, James E. Butler, amici curiae.
This is the nearly unanimous view of scholars who have addressed the problem, see, e.g., Goodrich, Emotional Disturbance as Legal Damage, 20 Mich. L. Rev. 497 (1922); Magruder, Mental and Emotional Disturbance in the Law of Torts, 49 Harv. L. Rev. 1033 (1936); Prosser, Handbook on the Law of Torts 327 (4th ed. 1971). Numerous state courts also follow this view. See Annot., 64 ALR2d 100. [Hamilton v. Powell, Goldstein, Frazer and Murphy, 252 Ga. 149, 151 (311 SE2d 818) (1984) (Smith, J., dissenting).]
As stated by Page Keeton:
[T]he great majority of courts have now repudiated the requirement of “impact,” regarding as sufficient the requirement that the mental distress be certified by some physical injury, illness or other objective physical manifestation. . . .
[A] handful of courts have taken the final step and permitted a general negligence cause of action for the infliction of serious emotional distress, without regard to whether the plaintiff suffered any physical injury or illness as a result. A couple of other recent decisions, over strong dissents, have expressly refused to move this far, opting instead to retain the physical harm requirement. [Cits, omitted.] [Keeton, supra at 364-65 (5th ed. 1984).]
I agree with the “handful of courts” that allow a cause of action to recover for serious emotional distress without regard to whether the plaintiff suffered any physical injury or physical illness.