Gagnon v. Rhode Island Co.
Gagnon v. Rhode Island Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an action of trespass on the case brought to recover damages for injuries alleged to have been suffered by the plaintiff through negligence of the defendant.
The case was tried before a justice of the Superior Court sitting with a jury and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff. Defendant’s motion for a new trial was denied by said justice. The case is before us upon the defend *474 ant’s exception to the decision of said justice on the motion for a new trial and upon exceptions taken by the defendant to certain rulings of said justice made in the course of the trial.
The defendant’s exceptions to the refusal of said justice to charge the jury as requested are without merit. *475 Said justice carefully instructed the jury as to the duty of the plaintiff and of the defendant in the premises and so far as the charge which the defendant requested was a correct statement of the law applicable to the evidence such instruction had been fully given by said justice.
The plaintiff at the time of the accident was pregnant; she was struck and felt pain in her back and side and she testified that at the time of the accident ‘ ‘ I felt the child pushing toward the right. ’ ’ The plaintiff further testified that from the time of the accident until the birth of the child she entertained fears that the child would be born deformed. The defendant excepted to the admission of testimony that the head of the child was deformed at birth. The defendant then excepted to the admission of testimony that when the plaintiff saw this deformity she was pained. The defendant also excepted to the charge of the justice to the jury that in assessing damages they might consider any mental suffering which they found that the plaintiff had endured, due to her apprehension that she,would give birth to a deformed child; and that they might consider her mental suffering at the time of the birth caused by her disappointment at finding a deformity in the head of the child, if the jury should also find that the deformity was a result of the accident to the plaintiff. The justice very carefully instructed the jury that the plaintiff was not entitled to compensation for the injury to the child or for any disappointment and suffering which she as its mother might feel during its life by reason of any deformity in the child; but that the jury were justified in giving compensation to the plaintiff for the mental suffering which the jury might find she had endured before the birth b}^ reason of her apprehension of the child’s deformity and also for her suffering at the time of birth caused by disappointment in finding she had not been delivered of a sound child, provided they also found that the deformity was due to the accident. The *476 exceptions which, we are now considering should be overruled. The foetus is a part of the person of a pregnant woman and if by reason of the nature and circumstances of an injury to her person caused by the negligence of a defendant she suffers apprehension and anxiety as to the effect Of the injury upon the foetus, in accordance with the well-recognized rule, such mental suffering becomes an element of her damage as a natural and proximate result of the negligence which caused the injury. Furthermore, although she should not be given damages for the child’s misfortune during life, resulting from an injury to the foetus, nor for her own subsequent mental distress during the lifetime of the child occasioned by its deformity, the mother is entitled to damages for her distress and disappointment at the .time of the birth because through the defendant’s negligence she has been deprived of the right and the satisfaction of bearing a sound child, if it be found that the child’s deformity is due to the injury she received through the defendant’s negligence. Prescott v. Robinson, 74 N. H. 460; Big Sandy v. Blankenship, 23 L. R. A. (N S.) 345.
The defendant’s exceptions are all overruled and the case is remitted to the Superior Court for the entry of judgment on the verdict.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Eleonore Gagnon v. Rhode Island Company.
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published