## Facts

- Joyce McDougall walked her leashed small dog, Angel, in a condominium complex.
- Charlot Lamm’s much larger dog, also leashed, allegedly broke free or was inadequately controlled, attacked Angel, and killed the dog in McDougall’s presence.
- McDougall alleged severe emotional distress from witnessing the attack and sought damages beyond the dog’s economic value.
- The trial court limited recovery to traditional property-related damages and rejected a bystander emotional-distress claim under Portee v. Jaffee.
- The Appellate Division affirmed, and the Supreme Court of New Jersey granted review to decide whether such emotional-distress recovery should be allowed.

## Issues

1. Whether New Jersey’s bystander emotional-distress doctrine under Portee v. Jaffee should be extended to permit a pet owner to recover for severe emotional distress after witnessing the traumatic death of a pet.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed.
- The court held that Portee does not extend to claims based on observing a pet’s death.
- McDougall could recover only traditional property-based damages associated with the loss of her dog, not emotional-distress damages.

## Legal Principles

- Portee bystander emotional-distress recovery remains confined to cases involving death or serious injury to a person with whom the plaintiff has a close familial relationship or an intimate, marital-like bond, along with contemporaneous observation and severe distress.
- Courts will not expand Portee when doing so would depart from its relationship requirement and materially broaden the class of compensable claims.
- Recognizing emotional-distress damages for witnessing a pet’s death was rejected due to: (1) inconsistency with Portee’s human-relationship foundation; (2) line-drawing and indeterminacy concerns that would create an ill-defined cause of action; and (3) conflict with legislative policy choices reflected in statutory schemes that limit recovery for death to pecuniary loss and treat pets as property for damages purposes.

## Conclusion

The New Jersey Supreme Court declined to expand Portee’s bystander emotional-distress doctrine to the traumatic death of a pet, limiting a pet owner’s recovery to traditional property-type damages rather than emotional-distress damages for witnessing the pet’s death.


McDougall v. Lamm, 211 N.J. 203, 48 A.3d 312 (N.J. 2012)