The Court held that negligence claims for mental injury do not require proof of a recognized psychiatric illness or expert diagnosis as a legal precondition.
A claimant must still prove serious and prolonged disturbance beyond ordinary distress under general negligence principles, including duty, breach, causation, and remoteness.
On the record, the trial judge’s factual findings of compensable mental injury based on lay evidence were entitled to deference.
The Court allowed the appeal, restored the trial award, and declined to remand issues of indivisibility and quantum.
