Court Opinion

ID: 9708912
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:35:17.032069+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:44.582596
License: Public Domain

HUTCHINSON, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result. I cannot, however, join the majority opinion because it needlessly injects foreseeability into causation analysis. In a negligence action, the plaintiff must show that the tortfeasor owed a duty to him, a breach of that duty, actual damages and a causal connection between the damages and breach of the duty owed. Morena v. South Hills Health System, 501 Pa. 634, 462 A.2d 680 (1983).
Duty, in large part, limits the persons to whom an actor is responsible for damage caused by careless conduct. Causation, perhaps more precisely legal causation, limits the type *282of damages for which an actor is responsible. This case involves a careless actor’s liability for a parent’s grief over an injury to her child; it involves legal cause not duty. We have long held that the concept of foreseeability determines the scope of the duty owed by the tortfeasor not causation. Cantwell v. Allegheny County, 506 Pa. 35, 483 A.2d 1350 (1984); Zilka v. Sanctis Construction, Inc., 409 Pa. 396, 186 A.2d 897 (1962), cert. denied, 374 U.S. 850, 83 S.Ct. 1915, 10 L.Ed.2d 1070 (1963). We unequivocally stated the inapplicability of foreseeability to causation in Dahlstrom v. Shrum, 368 Pa. 423, 428-29, 84 A.2d 289, 292 (1951) (emphasis in original):
We are in accord with the doctrine that foreseeability has no place when we are considering proximate or legal cause. Foreseeability, however, is an element, as above indicated, when the question of negligence is being considered. ... [T]he question of foreseeability in connection with proximate cause has no application.
We have replaced the traditional “proximate cause” analysis with the more modern “legal cause” analysis now in use in many of our sister states as evidenced by its description in the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Vattimo v. Lower Bucks Hospital, Inc., 502 Pa. 241, 465 A.2d 1231 (1983); Ford v. Jeffries, 474 Pa. 588, 379 A.2d 111 (1977); Whitner v. Lojeski, 437 Pa. 448, 263 A.2d 889 (1970) (Opinion Announcing the Judgment of the Court). The Restatement sections describing the test courts use for causation state:
§ 430. Necessity of Adequate Causal Relation
In order that a negligent actor shall be liable for another’s harm, it is necessary not only that the actor’s conduct be negligent toward the other, but also that the negligence of the actor be a legal cause of the other’s harm.
§ 431. What Constitutes Legal Cause
The actor’s negligent conduct is a legal cause of harm to another if
(a) his conduct is a substantial factor in bringing about the harm, and
*283(b) there is no rule of law relieving the actor from liability because of the manner in which his negligence has resulted in the harm.
Foreseeability is no more a part of this causation formulation than proximate cause. The test focuses on the effect of the tortfeasor’s acts, not their foreseeability or likelihood. Section 435(1) eliminates any remaining doubt by specifically excluding foreseeability from causation analysis.1
§ 435. Foreseeability of Harm or Manner of Its Occurrence
(1) If the actor’s conduct is a substantial factor in bringing about harm to another, the fact that the actor neither foresaw nor should have foreseen the extent of the harm or the manner in which it occurred does not prevent him from being liable.
In this case, I would hold that no causal connection satisfying the standard for legal causation described in § 431, now in use in this jurisdiction as a matter of common law, has been shown and affirm Superior Court.
In addition, as the majority points out, appellants’ claim is for solatium, grief and bereavement caused by the child’s death. We have long held that recovery for solatium is not allowed. Sinn v. Burd, 486 Pa. 146, 404 A.2d 672 (1979) (Opinion Announcing the Judgment of the Court); Ferne v. Chadderton, 363 Pa. 191, 69 A.2d 104 (1949); Vincent v. City of Philadelphia, 348 Pa. 290, 35 A.2d 65 (1944). This is also the law in the vast majority of our sister jurisdictions, 14 A.L.R.2d 485, 495 (1950), and the Restatement view, Restatement (Second) of Torts § 436A comment c (1965). Accordingly, appellants’ claim also fails under § 431(b) of the Restatement. Our well-established rule precluding recovery for solatium relieves the actor from liability.

. On its face, Section 435(2) seems to introduce foreseeability into causation analysis when it seems highly unlikely that the conduct should have caused the harm. However, comment c to that section explains that this is really a negligence, not a causal, consideration.