Hawkins v. Diel, 166 Wash. App. 1 (2011)

Citation: Hawkins v. Diel, 166 Wash. App. 1 (2011)
Parent Document: Hawkins v. Diel, 166 Wash. App. 1 (2011)
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Effective Date: 2011-11-18
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4950936/hawkins-v-diel/ ↗

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¶28 The Hawkinses cannot maintain an actionable claim for emotional distress because they did not prove a diagnosable emotional disorder. “In order to recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress, a plaintiff’s emotional response must be reasonable under the circumstances, and be corroborated by objective symptomatology.” Hegel v. McMahon, 136 Wn.2d 122, 132, 960 P.2d 424 (1998). To satisfy objective symptomatology, “a plaintiff’s emotional distress must be susceptible to medical diagnosis and proved through medical evidence.” Hegel, 136 Wn.2d at 135. Here, the Hawkinses alleged only emotional distress in the broadest sense and, importantly, failed to support any of their assertions with substantiated medical evidence.

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