California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Wiggins, v. Royale Convalescent Hospital, 158 Cal.App.3d 914, 206 Cal.Rptr. 2 (Cal. App. 1984):
4 "This test is the subject of RESTATEMENT [(SECOND) OF TORTS] (1965) supra note 4, 46, which defines outrageous conduct causing severe emotional distress: '(1) one who by extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another is subject to liability for such emotional distress, and if bodily harm to the other results from it, for such bodily harm.' Further provisions extend liability for distress resulting from outrageous conduct, intentional or 'reckless,' directed at a third person, if the plaintiff is closely related and present at the time, or if the plaintiff is unrelated to the victim but suffers bodily harm from the emotional distress. (Id. 46(2)." (Blackmer, Molien v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals: Negligence Actions for Emotional Distress and Loss of Consortium without Physical Injury (1981) 69 Cal.L.Rev. 1142, 1154, fn. 58.)
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