Johnson v. Jamaica Hospital

1984

Venue: NY Ct. App.

Facts: Baby Kawana is abducted from the hospital, and is missing for 4.5 months. The hospital had been distracted by a couple of bomb threats.

Posture: Summary judgment for defendants denied at trial. The denial is affirmed on appeal, but the vote is divided, and they send it on to the Court of Appeals.

Issue: Is summary judgment appropriate? (or maybe dismissal?)

Holding: Yes. There's no cause of action here. Reversed. Dismissed.

Rule: The hospital may have been negligent, but they're not liable to the parents here.

Reasoning: Rights exist correlative with duties. Just because you have suffered doesn't mean that someone else owes you a duty. We'd have lawsuits galore if we allowed parents to sue every time they got scared about their kids.

Dicta: Dissent: don't we vindicate wrongs even if there will be a flood of litigation? don't we compensate for psychological harm?