Selewski v. Williams , 72 Mich. App. 742 ( 1976 )

D. T. Anderson, J.

(dissenting). I respectfully dissent.

Undoubtedly, if plaintiff’s weakened, run-down condition had been caused by his physical injuries, there would be evidence to sustain the jury’s verdict.

However, a careful reading of the entire transcript reveals no evidence whatever that he could not sleep, eat or rest due to his physical injuries, thus contributing to a debilitated condition permitting the development of the virus to a greater degree than otherwise probable.

Rather, the only evidence as to the cause of his weakened or more susceptible condition, relates to natural worry and concern about his son and wife. Plaintiff states it clearly on page 93 of the transcript:

“I was not eating properly, I wasn’t sleeping, I was worried for the condition of my son and my wife. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I would go to the hospital, be worried about my son, and I would have just like snacks. I wouldn’t eat regular dinners or whatever, and I felt completely rundown.”

There are other references in the transcript to eating and sleeping, but none attribute these problems to the physical injury or discomfort suffered by plaintiff.

To permit worry and concern and emotional distress, resulting in this case in irregular meals and loss of sleep, to be a basis for a cause of action over and above that recognized as legitimate in Gustafson v Faris, 67 Mich App 363; 241 NW2d 208 (1976), is to open wide the floodgates of litigation.