Portee v. Jaffee

Facts

Renee Portee's seven-year-old son, Guy, lived with her in a Newark apartment building that Edith and Nathan Jaffee owned and operated. On the afternoon of May 22, 1976, Guy became trapped in the building's elevator between its outer door and the wall of the elevator shaft. The elevator was activated and dragged him up to the third floor. Police officers worked for four and one-half hours to free him. Portee watched as her son moaned, cried out and flailed his arms. Much of the time she was kept from touching him, apparently so she would not interfere with the rescue. Guy suffered multiple bone fractures and massive internal hemorrhaging. He died while still trapped, with his mother watching helplessly. The police asked Atlantic Elevator Company, which shared responsibility with Watson Elevator Company for installing and maintaining the elevator, to send a mechanic. Apparently no one came. After her son's death Portee became severely depressed and seriously self-destructive. On March 24, 1979, she tried to take her own life and had to be hospitalized for a deep wrist wound. She needed surgery, physical therapy, counseling and psychotherapy. The court took these facts as true because it was reviewing the dismissal of her distress claims as legally insufficient.

Issues

1. Can a parent recover damages for her own severe emotional distress from watching her young child suffer and die in an accident caused by the defendant's negligence, when she herself faced no risk of physical harm?
2. If such a claim is allowed, what elements limit it so that liability does not exceed the defendant's culpability, and how does the injured person's own negligence affect recovery?

Holding

A mother who watched her seven-year-old son suffer and die at the scene of an accident caused by defendants' negligence can pursue a claim for her own severe emotional distress, even though she faced no risk of physical harm. The trial court's summary judgment was therefore reversed.