Court Opinion

ID: 9566222
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:35:10.562987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:33:22.098640
License: Public Domain

Justice WEBB
dissenting.
I dissent. The majority, in order to reach the result it has reached, says it has followed “the overwhelming weight of this Court’s opinions for the past one hundred years.” In applying this “overwhelming weight” of authority the majority has found it necessary to overrule Hinnant v. Power Co., 189 N.C. 120, 126 S.E. 307 (1925), and seven cases decided by the Court of Appeals. I do not believe the Court of Appeals has been wrong in the way it has interpreted our cases.
I believe the cases relied on by the majority show that in some earlier cases we held that negligent infliction of emotional distress without showing more was actionable. These cases involved principally the negligent delivery of telegrams and the negligent burial of bodies. Morrow v. R.R., 213 N.C. 127, 195 S.E. 383 (1938); Young v. Telegraph Co., 107 N.C. 370, 11 S.E. 1044 (1890). As the law developed we held that there must be some impact or physical injury accompanying the negligent act to support a claim. Stanback v. Stanback, 297 N.C. 181, 254 S.E.2d 611; Williamson *319v. Bennett, 251 N.C. 498, 112 S.E.2d 48; Hinnant v. Power Co., 189 N.C. 120, 126 S.E. 307; Kimberly v. Howland, 143 N.C. 399, 55 S.E. 778 (1906); Byrd, Recovery For Mental Anguish In North Carolina, 58 N.C. L. Rev. at 457. We have now overruled or disapproved these cases, which I do not think we should do. The rule we have followed is somewhat arbitrary but it is based on the policy that there must be some limit to the liability of a negligent person. I would hold that Glenn W. Johnson and Barbara K. Johnson have not stated claims.