Tort Negligence Liability For Mental Harm In Wake
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FAQ
The tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress has four elements: (1) the defendant must act intentionally or recklessly; (2) the defendant's conduct must be extreme and outrageous; and (3) the conduct must be the cause (4) of severe emotional distress.
The distinction between the liability of a lunatic or insane person in civil actions for torts committed by him, and in crimi- nal prosecutions, is well defined, and it has always been held, and upon sound reason, that though not punishable criminally, he is liable to a civil action for any tort he may commit."
The tort of intentional infliction of mental suffering goes by many names - intentional infliction of emotional harm, intentional infliction of emotional distress and so forth. Basically, this tort involves intentionally causing severe emotional harm to another individual.
In claims of negligently inflicted psychiatric illness, the plaintiff's reaction to a traumatic event is usually measured against a standard of normal susceptibility and disposition. This measurement is used to determine the question of whether the defendant should have reasonably foreseen the plaintiff's injury.
A mentally disordered defendant who commits negligence will be liable, even if his or her actions could be attributable to illness. Since a seventeenth-century dictum indicating that a 'lunatic' would be answerable in trespass,3. the courts have been unwilling to excuse mentally ill defendants' tortious liabilities.
Insane persons are commonly held liable for their intentional torts. While there are very few cases, the same rule has been applied to their negligence.
