(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this elder abuse and personal injury case and its proceedings.)
The Fifth Cause of Action Properly Alleges A Cause of Action For Negligent Infliction Of Emotional Distress
Debra White, as an alternative claim to the intentional infliction of emotional distress cause of action, asserts a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress.
One of the bases for a “direct victim” claim for NIED is the negligent breach of a duty arising out of a pre-existing relationship. Burgess v. Superior Court (1992) 2 Cal. 4th 1064 is the controlling authority on that cause of action. In that case, a mother was permitted to bring an action for NIED when her fetus was allegedly injured by negligence during delivery. The Court reasoned that there was a preexisting relationship between the mother and the defendant physician such that a duty of ordinary care flowed from the physician to the mother.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
The facts alleged in the Fifth Cause of Action allege an analogous cause of pre-existing relationship. It is clearly asserted that defendants undertook to encourage Mrs.White to agree to discharge her husband based upon representations, which were without basis, that he could be cared for at home as long as she was trained. The defendants then undertook to “train” Mrs. White for this task.
It was both legally and literally foreseeable that such advice and conduct would cause Mrs.White severe emotional distress because it was clear Mrs.White would never be able to care for her husband at home. Thus, a direct victim claim for NIED is both properly pleaded and legally tenable against defendant Universal. (See Part 10 of 10.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.