John M. Parisi
Elected as President
of Kansas Trial
Lawyers’ Association
We proudly congratulate our partner, John M. Parisi, on being
elected President of the Kansas Trial Lawyers’ Association
(KTLA) at the association’s annual meeting in Aspen, Colorado
on June 20, 2002. John becomes the 50th President in the history
of KTLA, an organization of over 750 trial lawyers dedicated to
representing families and workers, improving the legal profession,
and promoting issues important to consumers. John has served KTLA
well over the years as Vice- President of Legislation, Vice- President
of Education, Vice President of Public Affairs, Secretary, Treasurer,
and Member At-Large. Our firm has a history of KTLA leadership,
with our partner, Lynn Johnson, serving as past president of KTLA.
We are proud of John for this and his many other exceptional accomplishments.
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230 Kan. 289, 292
(1981) (tort of outrage). Second, Fogarty is not binding
precedent on any court and the matter is ripe for further litigation.
The Fogarty interpretation of Kansas law works to deny
recovery to plaintiffs who have suffered serious mental anguish
from fear of impending death and who died instantly in the accident.
The Fogarty opinion reflects an extreme reluctance on
the part of the Court to reach its holding barring preimpact fright
damages. The Fogarty court questioned the foundation
on which Kansas doctrine of pre-impact mental anguish damages
is premised and noted several examples where the rule leads to
an unfair result. The Court noted several jurisdictions which
did permit pre-impact fright damages in 1986, including Louisiana,
New York, Texas, Florida, and Connecticut. All of these jurisdictions
still recognize the doctrine of pre-impact mental anguish |
damages. See, e.g., Lang v. Bouju,
245 A.D. 2d 1000, 1001 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1997); Barereton v. United
States, 1973 F. Supp. 752, 757 (E.D. Mich. 1997); Harvey
v. State, 799 So.2d. 569, 578 (La. Ct. App. 2001). Importantly,
since the Fogarty decision Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Nebraska,
Maryland, and Georgia have all joined the majority of states which
allow recovery for preimpact fright that is accompanied by physical
consequences or impact. See, e.g., Bowen v. Lumbermen’s
Mut. Cas. Co., 517 N.W.2d 432, 446 (Wis. 1994) (allowing bystander
negligent infliction of emotionaldistress claim without physical
injury); Thiebault v. Campbell, 622 A.2d 212, 215 (N.H. 1993);
Nelson v. Dolan, 434 N.W.2d 25, 31 (Neb. 1989); Beynov
v. Montgomery Cablevision, 718 A.2d 1161, 1183 (Md. 1998); Dept.
of Transportation v. Dupree, 2002 Ga. App. LEXIS 715 @ * 29-30
(Ga. Ct. App. 2002). The modern trend is to allow pre-impact fear
of impending death damages, and plaintiffs should advance these
claims in Kansas. |
