Daley v. LaCroix

This appeal presents as a threshold question an issue which conceptually, though not decisionally, equally divided our Court in Manie v. Matson Oldsmobile-Cadillac Company (1967), 378 Mich 650, vis., whether the “impact” rule in emotional distress has any continued vitality in the Michigan civil jurisprudence.

On July 16, 1963, about 10 p.m., defendant was traveling west on 15 Mile Road near plaintiffs’ farm in Macomb County. Defendant’s vehicle left the highway, traveled 63 feet in the air and 209 feet beyond the edge of the road and, in the process, *7sheared off a utility pole. A number of…