Johna Benefield v. the Cincinnati Insurance Company

• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Decided: October 4, 2013
• Docket: 147192
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order Michigan Supreme Court Lansing, Michigan

October 4, 2013 Robert P. Young, Jr., Chief Justice

147192 Michael F. Cavanagh Stephen J. Markman JOHNA BENEFIELD, Mary Beth Kelly Brian K. Zahra Plaintiff-Appellee, Bridget M. McCormack v SC: 147192 David F. Viviano, COA: 300307 Justices Oakland CC: 2008-092119-CZ THE CINCINNATI INSURANCE COMPANY, THE VILLAGE AT STONEGATE POINTE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, and NORTH MANAGEMENT, INC., Defendants-Appellees. _________________________________________ JOHNA BENEFIELD, Plaintiff-Appellee, v Oakland CC: 2008-097062-CZ BYRON CRAFT, Defendant-Appellant, and RICHARD R. KOLAR, Defendant-Appellee. _________________________________________/

On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the March 19, 2013 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered and, pursuant to MCR 7.302(H)(1), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we REVERSE that portion of the Court of Appeals judgment that reversed the trial court’s exclusion of emotional distress damages for the plaintiff’s breach of contract and negligence claims. Emotional distress damages are generally not recoverable for breach of a commercial contract, and the plaintiff did not establish that such damages were within the contemplation of the parties at the time the contract was made. Kewin v Massachusetts Mutual Ins Co, 409 Mich 401, 419 (1980). Emotional distress damages are also generally not recoverable for the negligent destruction of property. Price v High Pointe Oil Co, Inc, 493 Mich 238, 264 (2013). In all other respects, leave to appeal is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the remaining questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.

I, Larry S. Royster, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court. October 4, 2013 t1001 Clerk