Johna Benefield v. the Cincinnati Insurance Company ( 2013 )

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