Section 24 Impact Rule Abolished

• Library: Damages 2012

Before Bass v. Nooney Co., 646 S.W.2d 765 (Mo. banc 1983), the law of Missouri was that a defendant was not liable for negligence resulting in emotional distress unless the plaintiff suffered contemporaneous traumatic physical injury. In Bass, a lady trapped in an elevator for a substantial period of time required heavy sedation, hospitalization for five days, and two subsequent office visits to a psychiatrist as a result of the fright she sustained. The Court, noting that this trauma was compensable, stated that “the emotional distress or mental injury must be medically diagnosable and must be of sufficient severity so as to be medically significant.” Id. at...