Metro-North Commuter R. Co. v. Buckley, 521 U.S. 424, 6 (1997)

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Cite as: 521 U. S. 424 (1997)

Opinion of the Court

amounts to a "physical impact" as this Court used that term in Gottshall. In Gottshall, an emotional distress case, the Court interpreted the word "injury" in FELA § 1, a provision that makes "[e]very common carrier by railroad . . . liable in damages to any person suffering injury while . . . employed" by the carrier if the "injury" results from carrier "negligence." 45 U. S. C. § 51. In doing so, it initially set forth several general legal principles applicable here. Gott-shall described FELA's purposes as basically "humanitarian." Gottshall, supra, at 542; see also, e. g., Urie v. Thompson, 337 U. S. 163 (1949). It pointed out that the Act expressly abolishes or modifies a host of common-law doctrines that previously had limited recovery. See, e. g., 45 U. S. C. §§ 51, 53, and 54. It added that this Court has interpreted the Act's language "liberally" in light of its humanitarian purposes. Gottshall, supra, at 543. But, at the same time, the Court noted that liability under the Act rests upon "negligence" and that the Act does not make the railroad " 'the insurer' " for all employee injuries. 512 U. S., at 543 (quoting Ellis v. Union Pacific R. Co., 329 U. S. 649, 653 (1947)). The Court stated that "common-law principles," where not rejected in the text of the statute, "are entitled to great weight" in interpreting the Act, and that those principles "play a significant role" in determining whether, or when, an employee can recover damages for "negligent infliction of emotional distress." 512 U. S., at 544. See also id., at 558 (Souter, J., concurring) (Court's duty "in interpreting FELA . . . is to develop a federal common law of negligence . . . informed by reference to the evolving common law"); Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co. v. Buell, 480 U. S. 557 (1987).

The Court also set forth several more specific legal propositions. It recognized that the common law of torts does not permit recovery for negligently inflicted emotional distress unless the distress falls within certain specific categories that amount to recovery-permitting exceptions. The law,

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