District of Columbia v. Smith

• Decision Date: 02 November 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-260.,80-260.
• Parties: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellant, v. Hattie Lee SMITH, et al., Appellees.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

436 A.2d 1294

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellant, v. Hattie Lee SMITH, et al., Appellees.

No. 80-260.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued August 4, 1981.

Decided November 2, 1981.

David P. Sutton, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Washington, D.C., with whom Judith W. Rogers, Corp. Counsel, and Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corp. Counsel, Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellant.

Stephen J. O'Brien, Washington, D.C., with whom Robert R. Redmon, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellees.

Before KERN, NEBEKER and PRYOR, Associate Judges.

PRYOR, Associate Judge:

Appellant, the District of Columbia, appeals from an adverse judgment entered after a jury verdict in favor of appellees Hattie Lee Smith, Pearlie Smith and Claudie Burns, who brought an action seeking damages for mental anguish resulting from the District's alleged negligent interference with their right to preserve, bury or otherwise dispose of the body of their brother, Casper Yeagin, at the time of his death. Appellant asserts that appellees' failure to prove physical injury, in the circumstances of this case, precludes any recovery for damages for mental anguish. Thus, the submission of the case to the jury was error. We are persuaded by these contentions and therefore order reversal.

I

On September 11, 1977, 68-year-old Casper Yeagin left the home he shared with his sister, appellee Pearlie Smith, at approximately 11:00 a. m. Later that day, Officer Jackson of the Metropolitan Police Department discovered an unidentified man lying on the ground in front of a gas station located on Bladensburg Road, N.E. Believing him to be intoxicated, Officer Jackson arranged for his transport to the District's Detoxification Center (Center) by a fellow police officer. The man was unconscious when he arrived at the Center and was subsequently recorded as "John Doe" on the log book used to record police department transportation of individuals to that facility.

Upon "John Doe's" arrival at the Center, the admissions clerk noted that two wallets were removed from his person. Examination of the wallets produced no typical forms of identification such as a driver's license or social security card. According to the appellees, however, one of the wallets contained three pieces of paper indicating either the names, addresses or telephone numbers of three persons later identified as two of the unconscious man's relatives and one of his friends.

Several hours later, a nurse at the Center examined the man, determined that he was in need of further evaluation, and had him transported by ambulance to Howard University Hospital. His personal property was not sent with him to the hospital but instead was retained in a bag in the property drawer at the Center. He remained unconscious and unidentified for several weeks and died on November 3, 1977. Shortly thereafter, his body was transported to the District of Columbia's Medical Examiner's Office. That office conducted an independent investigation to ascertain his identity by taking fingerprints and attempting to match them with fingerprints on file at various government agencies. These efforts proved unsuccessful and the body was later transferred to the Howard University Anatomical Board where it remained until ultimately identified on January 3, 1978 as Casper Yeagin.

When Casper Yeagin failed to return home on September 11, 1977, his sister, appellee Pearlie Smith, contacted family members and area hospitals in an effort to locate his whereabouts. On September 19, 1977, Pearlie Smith reported the disappearance to the Metropolitan Police Department. Officer Jackson was assigned to the matter and visited Pearlie Smith at her home on the same day. He was given a picture of Casper Yeagin, as well as other information concerning his age, description and habits. Although Mrs. Smith stated that her brother was known to be a heavy drinker who frequented the vicinity of Sid's Liquor Store on Bladensburg Road, N.E., Officer Jackson did not associate the information which he was given with the man he briefly observed and ordered transported to the Center over a week before. Thus, the officer commenced a preliminary but unsuccessful search for Casper Yeagin which included, among other things, telephoning the Center to determine if any record of Casper Yeagin existed there. His investigation was later interrupted by another assignment.

Pearlie Smith, her daughter, Minnie Champ, and Hattie Smith each made subsequent telephone inquiries to the Metropolitan Police Department regarding the status of the investigation into Yeagin's disappearance. In early January 1978, Minnie Champ called the Missing Persons Section of the Metropolitan Police Department and, as a result, Officer Jackson again responded to the residence of Pearlie Smith. Upon learning that Mr. Yeagin was still missing, Officer Jackson contacted Missing Persons and Officer Keightley of that division was assigned to the case on January 3, 1978. Based on his interview of Pearlie Smith and ensuing investigation, Officer Keightley located the decedent's body at the Howard University Anatomical Board on January 3, 1978; the body was identified as Casper Yeagin later that day by Ms. Champ and appellee Hattie Lee Smith.

II.

Appellees' claim for damages for mental distress was predicated upon an allegation that the District has been negligent in failing to ascertain Casper Yeagin's identity from the documents in his wallet at the time he was brought to the Center and also in failing to pursue with sufficient care the missing persons report. These acts of negligence, appellees argue, interfered with their right as next of kin to preserve, possess, bury or otherwise dispose of Yeagin's corpse at the time of his death. At trial, the court ruled that the appellees had an actionable claim for the tortious violation of their right to possess their brother's body at the time of his death and that they could therefore recover damages for the mental anguish suffered in hoping that their brother might well be alive only to discover that he was dead. Accordingly, the court instructed the jury that if they found the District negligent, the appellees could recover for any mental anguish suffered which resulted from being denied the possession of the corpse from November 3, 1977, the date of death, until January 3, 1978, the date the body was turned over to the family.

It is generally accepted in this jurisdiction that there can be no recovery for negligently caused emotional distress, mental disturbance, or any consequence thereof, where there has been no accompanying physical injury. Waldon v. Covington, D.C. App., 415 A.2d 1070, 1076 (1980); Gilper v. Kiamesha Concord, D.C.App., 302 A.2d 740, 745 (1973). See generally Garber v. United States, 188 U.S.App.D.C. 172, 578 F.2d 414 (1978); Parrish v. United States, 123 U.S. App.D.C. 149, 357 F.2d 828 (1966); Perry v. Capital Traction Co., 59 App.D.C. 42, 32 F.2d 938, cert. denied, 280 U.S. 577, 50 S.Ct. 31, 74 L.Ed. 627 (1929).

Recognizing this precedent, appellees argue that some jurisdictions have abolished the physical injury or impact requirement in actions seeking damages for mental anguish resulting from the negligent or intentional mishandling or withholding of a dead body.¹ They urge us to allow recovery not only for intentional mishandling but for negligence as well. In the present case, we do not reach this issue, for the common factual thread in all of the cases cited by appellees has been that the defendant's actions constituted a physical invasion or an intentional withholding of a cadaver when the tortious conduct occurred.² Here, there is concededly no physical invasion, mutilation, or intentional withholding of a dead body. Moreover, appellees neither alleged nor proved that the appellant committed any negligent act which amounted to a mishandling or withholding of a dead body. The allegations of negligence asserted by appellees occurred either prior to or without any awareness of Casper Yeagin's death. Specifically, the appellant's failure to identify Yeagin at the Center, if viewed as negligent, involved negligence with respect to a live human being — not a corpse. Similarly, the officers who received a missing persons report were not knowingly dealing with a dead body in conducting their search. Hence, any negligent acts which may be attributable to the appellant cannot constitute actionable negligence which would allow a recovery for mental anguish in the absence of physical injury.

The appellees have, throughout trial and appeal, placed heavy reliance on Steagall v. Doctors Hospital, 84 U.S.App.D.C. 214, 171 F.2d 352 (1948), arguing that it establishes a legal right to possess, preserve and bury or otherwise dispose of a dead body and that the violation of that right is an actionable tort. We decline to give Steagall such broad interpretation. In that case a widow and her two adult sons brought a civil action against a hospital for performing an unauthorized autopsy. The claims of the sons were dismissed by the trial court on the ground that the widow had the sole right of action. On review, the appellate court affirmed, stating that the spouse had the "right to possess, preserve and bury or otherwise dispose of [the] dead body" and that if no spouse survived then that right was in the next of kin. The court added that the violation of such a right was a tort. Our view is that Steagall simply decided that a surviving spouse has the primary right of action. Anything pertaining to the scope or definition of the tort involved must necessarily be dicta.³

Appellees also relied on, and the trial court adopted, the court's theory in Finn v. City of New York, 350 N.Y.S.2d 552, 76 Misc.2d 388 (1973). There, plaintiff's spouse collapsed in a subway station and was taken to a city hospital where he...