548
Opinion of the Court
of a defendant's negligent conduct, or who are placed in immediate risk of physical harm by that conduct. That is, "those within the zone of danger of physical impact can recover for fright, and those outside of it cannot." Id., at 489. The zone of danger test currently is followed in 14 jurisdictions.9
The third prominent limiting test is the "relative bystander" test, which was first enunciated in Dillon v. Legg, 68 Cal. 2d 728, 441 P. 2d 912 (1968). In Dillon, the California Supreme Court rejected the zone of danger test and suggested that the availability of recovery should turn, for the most part, on whether the defendant could reasonably have foreseen the emotional injury to the plaintiff. The court offered three factors to be considered as bearing on the question of reasonable foreseeability:
"(1) Whether plaintiff was located near the scene of the accident as contrasted with one who was a distance away from it. (2) Whether the shock resulted from a direct emotional impact upon plaintiff from the sensory and contemporaneous observance of the accident, as contrasted with learning of the accident from others after its occurrence. (3) Whether plaintiff and the victim were closely related, as contrasted with an absence of any relationship or the presence of only a distant relationship." Id., at 740-741, 441 P. 2d, at 920.
9 See Keck v. Jackson, 122 Ariz. 114, 593 P. 2d 668 (1979); Towns v. Anderson, 195 Colo. 517, 579 P. 2d 1163 (1978); Robb v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 58 Del. 454, 210 A. 2d 709 (1965); Williams v. Baker, 572 A. 2d 1062 (D. C. App. 1990); Rickey v. Chicago Transit Authority, 98 Ill. 2d 546, 457 N. E. 2d 1 (1983); Resavage v. Davies, 199 Md. 479, 86 A. 2d 879 (1952); Stadler v. Cross, 295 N. W. 2d 552 (Minn. 1980); Asaro v. Cardinal Glennon Memorial Hosp., 799 S. W. 2d 595 (Mo. 1990); Bovsun v. Sanperi, 61 N. Y. 2d 219, 461 N. E. 2d 843 (1984); Whetham v. Bismarck Hosp., 197 N. W. 2d 678 (N. D. 1972); Shelton v. Russell Pipe & Foundry Co., 570 S. W. 2d 861 (Tenn. 1978); Boucher v. Dixie Medical Center, A Div. of IHC Hosps., Inc., 850 P. 2d 1179 (Utah 1992); Jobin v. McQuillen, 158 Vt. 322, 609 A. 2d 990 (1992); Garrett v. New Berlin, 122 Wis. 2d 223, 362 N. W. 2d 137 (1985).
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