## Facts

- Gaylen L. Catron operated a motorboat on Center Lake at Bridgeport State Recreation Area, towing two inflatable tubes carrying two of his daughter’s friends.
- Skylar L. Panek, age 14, operated a jet ski owned by Marvin R. Lewis.
- Panek struck one tube and fatally injured Samantha Rader, a friend of Catron’s daughter and not related to Catron.
- The tubes were towed behind Catron’s boat on ropes about 61 feet long and generally traveled close to each other.
- Catron witnessed the collision and attempted, unsuccessfully, to rescue Rader.
- Catron alleged severe emotional and psychological injury, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Catron sued Panek (negligent operation), Lewis (negligent entrustment), and the State of Nebraska (negligent operation of the recreation area), seeking damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress.
- The district court granted summary judgment for all defendants, concluding Catron did not qualify for NIED recovery because he was neither in the zone of danger nor a qualifying bystander with a close familial relationship to the victim.
- Catron appealed; the Nebraska Supreme Court reviewed summary judgment de novo, viewing evidence most favorably to Catron.

## Issues

1. Whether Nebraska law permits recovery for negligent infliction of emotional distress absent physical impact when the plaintiff was not in the defendant-created zone of danger.
2. Whether a plaintiff who witnesses a death may recover for NIED as a bystander without an intimate familial relationship to the victim.
3. Whether the evidence raised a triable issue that Catron faced an immediate risk of physical harm during the incident.

## Decision

- The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Panek, Lewis, and the State.
- The court held Catron could not recover for NIED because he was not within the zone of danger and lacked an intimate familial relationship with the decedent.
- The court concluded that no reasonable factfinder could place Catron in immediate risk of physical harm given the separation between the boat and the tubes and Catron’s testimony that his fear ended once the jet ski turned away from the boat.

## Legal Principles

- In Nebraska, absent physical impact or injury to the plaintiff, NIED recovery is limited to plaintiffs who either:
  - were within the zone of danger (i.e., faced an immediate risk of physical harm from the defendant’s negligence), or
  - were bystanders with an intimate familial relationship to the seriously injured or deceased victim.
- A non-familial relationship, even if emotionally significant, does not satisfy the intimate familial relationship requirement.
- Severe or medically documented emotional distress does not create liability unless the plaintiff meets one of the threshold NIED categories.

## Conclusion

Nebraska law does not allow NIED damages for a bystander who witnesses a fatal accident and suffers severe emotional harm unless the bystander was in immediate personal peril or had an intimate familial relationship with the victim; because Catron satisfied neither condition, summary judgment for all defendants was proper.


Catron v. Lewis, 271 Neb. 416, 712 N.W.2d 245 (Neb. 2006)