Williams v. U.S. Elevator Corp.

• Decision Date: 11 December 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-7180,89-7180
• Citation: 920 F.2d 1019,287 U.S.App.D.C. 225
• Parties: Imogene WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES ELEVATOR CORPORATION and Elcon Enterprises, Inc., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 1019

920 F.2d 1019

287 U.S.App.D.C. 225

Imogene WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES ELEVATOR CORPORATION and Elcon Enterprises Inc., Appellees.

No. 89-7180.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Oct. 15, 1990.

Decided Dec. 11, 1990.

Benjamin T. Boscolo, for appellant. Barry M. Chasen, Greenbelt, Md., also entered an appearance for appellant.

Eric G. Ertman, Silver Spring, Md., of the bar of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, pro hac vice, by special leave of the Court, with whom Joseph F. Cunningham, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for Elcon Enterprises. Wade J. Gallagher, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellee U.S. Elevator Corp.

Before EDWARDS, D.H. GINSBURG, and SENTELLE, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge SENTELLE.

Separate dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge EDWARDS.

SENTELLE, Circuit Judge:

This appeal arises from a jury verdict rendered against appellant Imogene Williams ("Williams" or "appellant") in a diversity action brought against appellees United States Elevator Corporation ("USEC") and Elcon Enterprises, Inc. ("Elcon") for physical and emotional damages appellant allegedly suffered as a result of being trapped in a malfunctioning elevator. On appeal, Williams raises issues based exclusively on her assertion that the district court erred in instructing the jury that psychological effects must be the result of physical injury in order to support a recovery of damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Despite an intervening change in the governing law of the District of Columbia abandoning the requirement that emotional distress must be traceable to physical injury in order to be compensable, we affirm the jury's verdict, as any error in the instruction was harmless.

I. BACKGROUND

Appellant appeals from an adverse verdict in a personal injury action against the elevator manufacturer, USEC, and the maintenance contractor, Elcon. ¹ The action alleged that, as a result of an incident occurring on May 13, 1986 at the Department of Labor, appellant suffered past, present, and future medical expenses, lost wages, mental anguish, fright and emotional distress, pain, suffering, and severe personal injuries.

According to appellant's testimony, she arrived at work on the date in question, parked her car on a lower level of an employee parking garage, entered an elevator, and pressed "3" for the third floor. When the elevator arrived at that floor, its doors failed to open. Appellant was unable to open the door by pressing the "door open" button so she attempted to call for help by means of an emergency telephone installed in the elevator. Though unsuccessful in her attempts to reach emergency personnel, she reached her supervisor. The elevator suddenly fell while appellant was talking to her supervisor and came to an abrupt halt at the plaza level of the building. The elevator doors again failed to open and the elevator rose to the fifth floor, stopped, then fell back to the plaza level. According to her testimony, appellant was trapped alone in the elevator for approximately forty minutes while the elevator continued to rise and fall at erratic speeds. She offered evidence of physical injuries and medical treatment. Appellees, by cross-examination and counter-evidence, contested virtually every material element of appellant's factual case.

At the close of all evidence and after hearing defense motions, the district court submitted the case to the jury on theories of strict liability, implied warranty of fitness, and negligence in design against USEC, and on a theory of negligence in maintenance against Elcon. The court submitted to the jury a verdict sheet requesting special verdicts in the form of answers to the following questions:

1. Is United States Elevator Corp. strictly liable for the injuries plaintiff suffered?

2. Did United States Elevator Corp. breach its implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose with respect to elevator 20?

3. Was United States Elevator Corp. negligent in its design of elevator 20?

4. Is Elcon Enterprises, Inc. negligent in its maintenance of elevator 20?

5. Is Elcon Enterprises, Inc. liable for negligent infliction of emotional distress?

If you find U.S. Elevator Corp. liable for the injuries which plaintiff sustained, what is the amount of damages to which she is entitled?

If you find Elcon Enterprises, Inc. liable for the injuries which plaintiff sustained, what is the amount of damages to which she is entitled? ²

After approximately ninety minutes of deliberations, the jury propounded the following written question to the court: "Do the psychological effects (damages-potential compensation) have to be the result of (related) physical injury? (Question based on Judge's Instructions.)" J.A. at 372-73. Over appellant's objections, the district court responded with the following answer: "I am applying a decision of our court of appeals back in 1966, which said that the question to be found in that case was whether appellant's alleged psychiatric disorders are a proximate result of the physical injuries sustained by her. Does that answer your question?" J.A. at 375-76. The jury, apparently failing to understand the judge's answer, asked the judge to repeat his statement. The judge then stated: "In other words, your question is: Do the psychological effects have to be the result of physical injury, and the answer is: Yes." J.A. at 376. Shortly thereafter, the jury returned a verdict in favor of USEC and Elcon on all counts.

Appellant moved for a new trial, contending that the jury instruction concerning the relationship necessary between psychological effects and physical injury was erroneous. By orders dated June 28 and June 30, 1989, the district court denied the motion and reaffirmed its conclusion that "the District of Columbia ... does not allow recovery for negligently inflicted emotional distress absent a causal relationship between some physical injury and that emotional distress." J.A. at 18.

Appellant bases her present appeal on whether the district court erred in its instruction on recovery for negligently inflicted emotional distress.

II. ANALYSIS

A. The Instruction Given

The original instruction on the emotional damage issue consisted of the following:

You are instructed that there can be no recovery for negligently caused emotional distress, mental consequence or disturbance unless it is a result of a physical injury. The accompanying physical injury need not be substantial to support recovery or [sic] negligently caused emotional distress. Any physical injury will be sufficient to support a claim for negligently caused emotional distress.

J.A. at 370. As noted above, the trial court offered additional instructions consistent with the original in response to a jury inquiry.

The parties devoted significant portions of their original briefs to arguing whether a causal relationship between physical injury and psychological distress is required in order to recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Appellant urged this Court to reject any such requirement, arguing that numerous cases support the proposition that emotional distress need only be accompanied by physical injury in order to recover. See, e.g., Perry v. Capital Traction Co., 32 F.2d 938 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 280 U.S. 577, 50 S.Ct. 31, 74 L.Ed. 627 (1929) (requiring only accompanying physical injury for emotional damages recovery); Waldon v. Covington, 415 A.2d 1070, 1076 n. 20 (D.C.App.1980) (same).

Appellees, on the other hand, cited a long list of decisions requiring a causal relationship between emotional distress and physical injury in order for the emotional distress to be compensable. See, e.g., Kropinski v. World Plan Executive Council-U.S., 853 F.2d 948, 952-53 (D.C.Cir.1988) (requiring causal relationship between emotional distress and physical injury); Gilper v. Kiamesha Concord, Inc., 302 A.2d 740 745 (D.C.App.1973) (emotional distress must be traceable to substantial physical injury); Harrison v. Canada Dry Corp., 245 A.2d 642 (D.C.App.1968) (requiring causal relationship).

After briefing in this appeal was completed, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued an en banc opinion directly addressing the issue of whether emotional damages need to flow from negligently inflicted physical damages in order to be compensable. Williams v. Baker, 572 A.2d 1062 (D.C.App.1990). Williams v. Baker involved a mother's claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress against a doctor who had incorrectly diagnosed her son's medical condition. The false diagnosis resulted in physical harm to the son, but caused no such harm to the mother. A panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants. 540 A.2d 449 (D.C.App.1988).

The court then granted en banc review, and affirmed the panel decision, but did so on a new rationale, abandoning the requirement of a causal relationship between the physical injury and the emotional distress, and holding:

If the plaintiff was in the zone of physical danger and was caused by defendant's negligence to fear for his or her own safety, the plaintiff may recover for negligent infliction of serious emotional distress and any resultant physical injury, regardless of whether plaintiff experienced a physical impact as a direct result of defendant's negligence.

572 A.2d at 1067 (emphasis added).

As the present case arose under the district court's diversity jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1332, the law of the District of Columbia governs. "Although the Rules of Decision Act, and hence Erie Railroad v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938), do not strictly apply with respect to D.C. law, we apply D.C.'s substantive law analogously for reasons of uniformity and respect for the D.C. Court of Appeals." Schleier v. Kaiser Foundation...