Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T19:23:26.687Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Recovery for Psychic Injuries under Workers’ Compensation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2021

Charles N. Miller
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In early common law, the courts refused all remedy for emotional disturbance or mental suffering unless it could be pigeonholed within the scope of one of the existing torts, such as assault, battery, false imprisonment, seduction, defamation and the like. The difficulty in reducing such injuries to compensable terms made courts reluctant to recognize and remedy those disabilities. As Lord Wensleydale said in 1861: “Mental pain or anxiety the law cannot value, and does not pretend to redress, when the unlawful act complained of causes that alone.” But appealing as this generalization might be, it flies in the face of reality. As a practical matter, courts have long since allowed damages in tort for such injuries as the loss of limbs or organs and, more recently, have permitted juries to assess money damages by way of subjective Compensation for mental anguish, humiliation, or other emotional loss resulting from defendant’s alleged misconduct. Such compensable events arise within many facets of the law and are especially noteworthy in the area of workers’ compensation.

Type
Article
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , December 1981 , pp. 25 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Lynch v. Knight, 9 H.L. Cas. 577, 598 (1861).Google Scholar
81 Am. Jur. 2d Workmen's Compensation §2 (1976).Google Scholar
Larsen, , Workmen's Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Death §6.10 (1981).Google Scholar
Id. at §1.10.Google Scholar
In re Hunnewell, , 107 N.E. 934, 936 (Mass. 1915).Google Scholar
Leonbruno v. Champlain Silk Mills, 128 N.E. 711, 712 (N.Y. 1920).Google Scholar
Rialto Lead & Zinc Co. v. State Industrial Commission, 240 P. 96 (Okla. 1925). See Carter Oil Co. v. Gibson, 241 P. 219 (Wyo. 1925).Google Scholar
Sigley v. Marathon Razor Blade Co., 166 A. 518 (N.J. 1933).Google Scholar
Valore, C. Jr., Aspects of Representing the Petitioner in Worker's Compensation (New Jersey Appellate Printing Co., Woodbridge, N.J.) (1975) at 75.Google Scholar
Gold, M.et al., Hypothyroidism and Depression, Journal of the American Medical Association 245(19):1919 (May 15, 1981); Gold, M.et al., Diagnosis of Depression in the '80s, Journal of the American Medical Association 245(15):1 562 (1981).Google ScholarPubMed
Dimascio, A. Goldberg, H., Emotional Disorders: An Outline Guide to Diagnosis and Pharmacological Treatment (Medical Economics Co., Oradell, N.J.) (1977) at 3–19.Google Scholar
Valore, , supra note 9.Google Scholar
MacKenzie v. General Motors Corp., Fisher Body Division, 232 N. W.2d 146 (Mich. 1975).Google Scholar
Id. at 152.Google Scholar
Swiss Colony, Inc., v. Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations, 240 N.W.2d 128, 132 (Wisc. 1976).Google Scholar
Id. at 133.Google Scholar
Williams v. Western Electric Co., 429 A.2d 1063 (N.J. Super. A.D. 1981) at 1070, 1071. See Walck v. Johns-Manville Products Corp., 267 A.2d 508 (N.J. 1970).Google Scholar
Larsen, , supra note 3, at §42.20.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
LaCalle v. Ashy Enterprises, 353 So.2d 439 (La. App. 1977).Google Scholar
Larsen, , supra note 3, at §42.20.Google Scholar
Burlington Mills Corp. v. Hagood, 13 S.E.2d 291 (Va. 1941).Google Scholar
Kahle v. Plochman, Inc., 428 A.2d 913 (N.J. 1981).Google Scholar
N.J. Stat. Ann. §34:15–7 (West). The statutory provision in its entirety reads:Google ScholarGoogle Scholar