 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Hislop v. Saltriver project Agricultural Improvement and Power District5/2/2000
distress for witnessing injury or death to their partner for no other reason than that they are not legally married, a status they cannot prevent. The closeness of two people should be judged by the quality and intimacy of the relationship, not by whether there is a blood relationship or whether a document has been filed at the court house. A segment of our population should not be denied legal redress simply because of their lifestyle.
The rule we adopted in Hill permits a judge to first scrutinize the claim of emotional distress to determine if the relationship is sufficiently close to create an issue of fact to present to a jury. If it is, the jury will then hear all the facts of the case, including the nature of the relationship existing between the plaintiff and the party injured or killed. We ask juries to make all sorts of difficult determinations and deciding the closeness of a relationship is a judgment juries are uniquely qualified to make. Leaving this factual determination to the jury would give Nevada a reasonably flexible rule that does not arbitrarily bar those who would otherwise be able to establish a close relationship. The majority of the court once saw the wisdom of this rule. Id. at 417-18 (citation omitted).
In the case before us, appellants claim that the evidence supports the conclusion that their relationship with Matthews was like that of siblings. One can speculate that the testimony elicited by appellees will be to the contrary, leaving the fact finder to draw its own conclusions. Whatever the magnitude of appellants' relationship with Matthews, the determination is something that should be decided by a jury. Juries return verdicts in difficult cases every day. I do not believe that it is too much to ask a jury to decide if a plaintiff's personal relationship with the injured party would support a cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The majority admits reluctance to extend the outer limits of recovery for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Yet, for these plaintiffs, that is exactly what the court has done. The distinction that I make is that the determination should be for the jury. I would reverse the trial court's grant of appellees' motion for summary judgment.
William F. Garbarino, Judge
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Arizona Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|