Sullivan v. Old Colony Street Ry. case brief

Sullivan v. Old Colony Street Ry. case brief summary
83 N.E. 1091, 1092 (Mass. 1908)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant railway company sought review of an order from the trial court (Massachusetts), which entered judgment in favor of plaintiff injured party and permitted her to recover damages for the sorrow and anguish endured as a result of the contemplation of the death of her premature infant.

CASE FACTS
Plaintiff initiated a lost of consortium action against defendant railway company for the death of her premature infant, which allegedly resulted from injuries she sustained as a result of the railway company's negligence prior to the child's conception.

DISCUSSION

• On appeal, the court reversed the trial court's judgment upon finding that the evidence tending to connect the premature birth of the child and its subsequent death within forty-eight hours, with the injury received by plaintiff prior to conception of the child was extremely slender. 
• It was error for the trial court to permit plaintiff to recover compensation for the sorrow and anguish endued as a result of the contemplation of the death of her child because, under law, she was not entitled to recover for the mental suffering that ensued from the contemplation of pain and suffering of another person.

CONCLUSION

The court sustained the exceptions of defendant and reversed the trial court's award of damages to plaintiff for mental anguish.

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