Case Brief: Lane v. Kindercare Learning Centers, Inc., 588 N.W.2d 715

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Lane v. Kindercare Learning Centers, Inc., 588 N.W.2d 715

Michigan Court of Appeals

1998

Chapter	20	Title	Contract Remedies
Page	850	Topic	Non-Economic and Non-Compensatory Damages
Quick Notes	o Damages may be awarded for emotional distress caused by a breach of a personal contract even where the emotional distress does not result in a physical injury.
Book Name	Contracts Cases, Discussions, and Problems. Blum Bushaw, Second Edition. ISBN: 978-0-7355-7069-6.

Issue

o Whether damages fore emotion distress are recovery for a breach arising out of a person contract? You Bet!!!

Procedure
Trial	o Granted Df - motion of summary judgment - On the ground that plaintiff failed to plead that she suffered a definite and objective physical injury as a result of her emotional distress
Appellant	o Reversed - Damages may be awarded for emotional distress caused by a breach of a personal contract even where the emotional distress does not result in a physical injury

Facts

Rules

Reason

Pl Lane

Df Kindercare

What happened?

o Lane dropped her 18 month old daughter off at the daycare.

o She left orders to allow the daycare to give her medication.

o The daycare put her in a crib and forgot about her.

o The looked the doors and turned off the lights.

o The mother had to call the police.

o The police had to break in.

o The mother discover that the child was not given her medicine as well.

Pl - claims

o Plaintiff filed a complaint against defendant, alleging breach of contract, statutory, regulatory, and internal policy violations, negligence, and gross negligence, and seeking exemplary damages.

Df - Move for Summary Judgment

o Defendant moved for summary disposition of plaintiff's claims pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(8) and (C)(10).

T.Ct Granted Summary Judgment

o After a hearing, the trial court granted summary disposition of plaintiff's claims.

Pl Appeals

o T.Ct erred in granting summary disposition on the grounds that the Pl - failed to allege compensable emotion distress.

Court of Appeals

o We Agree

Recovering Damage for Breach of Contract (Generally Statement)

o The recovery of damages for the breach of a contract is limited to those damages that are a natural result of the breach or those that are contemplated by the parties at the time the contract was made.

Recovering Damage for Breach of Contract (Commercial)

o Damages for emotional distress cannot be recovered for the breach of a commercial contract.

Recovering Damage for Breach of Contract (Personal)

o Damages for emotional distress may be recovered for the breach of a contract in cases that do not involve commercial or pecuniary contracts, but involve contracts of a personal nature.

Courts Reasoning

o When we have a contract concerned not with trade and commerce but with life and death, not with profit but with elements of personality, not with pecuniary aggrandizement but with matters of mental concern and solicitude, then a breach of duty with respect to such contracts will inevitably and necessarily result in mental anguish, pain and suffering. In such cases the parties may reasonably be said to have contracted with reference to the payment of damages therefor in event of breach. Far from being outside the contemplation of the parties they are an integral and inseparable part of it.

Example Of Personal Nature Contracts

o To perform a cesarean section,

o A contract for the care and burial of a dead body,

o A contract to care for the plaintiff's elderly mother and to notify the plaintiff in the event of the mother's illness,

o A promise to marry,

Courts Foreseeability Reasoning

o The contract involved in the instant case was personal in nature, rather than commercial.

o At the time the contract was executed, it was foreseeable that a breach of the contract would result in mental distress damages to plaintiff, which would extend beyond the mere "annoyance and vexation" that normally accompanies the breach of a contract.

o Such damages are clearly within the contemplation of the parties to such a contract.

Trial Courts Reasoning for Dismissal

o On the ground that plaintiff failed to plead that she suffered a definite and objective physical injury as a result of her emotional distress.

Courts Conclusion

o Damages may be awarded for emotional distress caused by a breach of a personal contract even where the emotional distress does not result in a physical injury.