Cite as: 521 U. S. 424 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
Asbestos Cases, 734 F. Supp. 1563 (Haw. 1990) (Hawaii law); Amendola v. Kansas City So. R. Co., 699 F. Supp. 1401 (WD Mo. 1988) (FELA); see also Potter v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 6 Cal. 4th 965, 863 P. 2d 795 (1993) (in banc) (no recovery for fear of cancer in a negligence action unless plaintiff is "more likely than not" to develop cancer).
Fourth, the general policy reasons to which Gottshall referred—in its explanation of why common-law courts have restricted recovery for emotional harm to cases falling within rather narrowly defined categories—militate against an expansive definition of "physical impact" here. Those reasons include: (a) special "difficult[y] for judges and juries" in separating valid, important claims from those that are invalid or "trivial," Gottshall, 512 U. S., at 557; (b) a threat of "unlimited and unpredictable liability," ibid.; and (c) the "potential for a flood" of comparatively unimportant, or "trivial," claims, ibid.
To separate meritorious and important claims from invalid or trivial claims does not seem easier here than in other cases in which a plaintiff might seek recovery for typical negligently caused emotional distress. The facts before us illustrate the problem. The District Court, when concluding that Buckley had failed to present "sufficient evidence to allow a jury to find . . . a real emotional injury," pointed out that, apart from Buckley's own testimony, there was virtually no evidence of distress. App. 623-625. Indeed, Buckley continued to work with insulating material "even though . . . he could have transferred" elsewhere, he "continued to smoke cigarettes" despite doctors' warnings, and his doctor did not refer him "either to a psychologist or to a social worker." Id., at 624. The Court of Appeals reversed because it found certain objective corroborating evidence, namely, "workers' complaints to supervisors and investigative bodies." 79 F. 3d, at 1346. Both kinds of "objective" evidence—the confirming and disconfirming evidence—seem only indirectly related to the question at issue, the existence
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