Ver Hagen v. Gibbons

The sole issue before this court is whether one can recover for mental anguish and emotional distress *222which is the result of another’s negligence and which is not manifested by, or causative of, any physical injury.

One of the earliest cases involving mental distress is Summerfield v. Westen Union Telegraph Co. (1894), 87 Wis. 1, 2, 57 N. W. 973. There this court denied recovery to one who, due to the defendant’s negligence, did not receive word of his mother’s illness until after her death. The plaintiff alleged that as a result he was “. . . ‘mortified, grieved, hurt, and shocked, and…