## Facts

- In September 1956, an infant patron rode a chair lift at Bellayre Mountain Ski Center, operated by the State of New York.
- A State employee allegedly placed the child on the lift but failed to secure the safety belt properly.
- During the descent, the child allegedly became frightened and hysterical.
- The child claimed severe emotional and neurological disturbances with residual physical manifestations.
- The claim alleged the injuries were proximately caused by the employee’s negligence in failing to secure the belt.

## Issues

1. Whether a negligence claim alleging fright that causes severe emotional and neurological disturbances with physical manifestations states a cognizable injury absent physical impact.
2. Whether New York should retain the rule barring recovery for negligently induced fright without impact.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division and reinstated the claim.
- The court held the pleading stated a negligence cause of action for emotional and neurological injury with physical manifestations caused by negligently induced fright.
- The court overruled Mitchell v. Rochester Ry. Co. to the extent it imposed an absolute bar on such recovery.
- The court treated genuineness, causation, and extent of injury as matters for proof at trial, not grounds for dismissal on the pleadings.

## Legal Principles

- Negligence liability may include emotional and neurological disturbances with physical manifestations proximately caused by a defendant’s negligent conduct, even without physical impact.
- Concerns about speculative or fraudulent claims do not justify a categorical rule of nonrecovery; ordinary trial processes (proof requirements, medical testimony, cross-examination, and judicial control) address those risks.
- Whether emotional harm and resulting physical effects are the natural and proximate consequences of negligence is generally a question for the trier of fact when adequately pleaded.

## Conclusion

New York recognized that negligently induced fright can be a compensable injury when it results in serious emotional or neurological harm with physical manifestations, and it rejected a per se impact requirement by overruling the prior no-recovery rule.


Battalla v. State, 10 N.Y.2d 237 (N.Y. 1961)