Torts, Emotional Distress, Dillon Case, Contemporaneous Awareness of Injury, Not of Negligent Cause, 1, 7
Plaintiff mother sued for negligent infliction of emotional distress. She was on the telephone with her daughter while the daughter drove a car at an intersection where her vision of on-coming traffic was obscured by defendants’ negligent maintenance of vegetation on adjoining property. That mother heard the crash on the phone but was unaware, at that time, of the negligent cause of the accident. For purposes of clearing the awareness threshold for emotional distress recovery, it is awareness of an event that is injuring the victim — not awareness of the defendant’s role in causing the injury — that matters. When a close relative witnesses what any layperson would understand to be an injury-producing event, the relative may bring a Dillon claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress even if the relative was not aware at the time of the role the defendant played in causing the victim’s injury.