DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judge:
Plaintiff-Appellant Gregory Goodrich ("Goodrich") is an employee of Defendant-Appellee The Long Island Rail Road Company ("LIRR"). On March 12, 2010, he brought suit under the Federal Employers' Liability Act ("FELA"), 45 U.S.C. § 51 et seq., against his employer, the LIRR, and two individual defendants, alleging claims of negligent infliction of emotional distress ("NIED") and intentional infliction of emotional distress ("IIED") against each of the three defendants. He appeals from a June 30, 2010, judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Scheindlin, J.), granting the LIRR's motion to dismiss his complaint, including his IIED claim against the LIRR, for failure to state a claim. Because we hold that the district court correctly concluded that a plaintiff bringing a claim for IIED under FELA is required to satisfy the "zone of danger" test outlined by the Supreme Court in Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Gottshall, 512 U.S. 532, 547-48, 554, 114 S.Ct. 2396, 129 L.Ed.2d 427 (1994), we affirm.
In reviewing the district court's grant of a motion to dismiss brought pursuant to
Goodrich alleges that while he was employed by the LIRR as an electrician at its facility in Hillside Yard, Queens, New York, he suffered severe emotional distress as a result of the actions of defendants the LIRR and two LIRR employees, Donald Russell ("Russell") and an unnamed individual "John Doe `A.'" At a pretrial conference conducted after the LIRR had filed its motion to dismiss in this case, Goodrich further alleged that, at the time the challenged conduct took place, he had been HIV positive for a number of years.
Goodrich filed his complaint in March 2010, asserting subject matter jurisdiction under FELA and alleging an NIED claim and an IIED claim against the LIRR, Russell, and the unknown individual John Doe "A." The LIRR filed a motion to dismiss with respect to the claims against it, arguing that to state a claim either for NIED or for IIED under FELA, Goodrich was required to satisfy the "zone of danger" test by alleging that he had either sustained a physical impact or been placed in immediate risk of physical harm by the conduct of the LIRR or its agents. Goodrich subsequently withdrew his NIED claim, acknowledging the need to satisfy the zone of danger test in that context, but contested the need to satisfy the same test to bring an IIED claim.
The district court concluded that the zone of danger test was applicable to IIED claims brought under FELA, granting LIRR's motion to dismiss on that basis. Although the individual defendants did not appear before the district court — according to the LIRR, Russell had not been served with a summons and complaint in this proceeding, while the other individual remained unidentified — the district court dismissed the action as to them as well, on the ground that a FELA action can only be brought against a "common carrier by railroad" and not an individual.
This appeal followed.
We review de novo a district court's grant of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, "accepting all factual claims in the complaint as true, and drawing all reasonable inferences in the
The sole question presented by this appeal is whether the zone of danger test applies to IIED claims brought under FELA. We begin with the text of the statute. FELA provides in relevant part that:
45 U.S.C. § 51. On its face, the statute offers little reason to conclude that its coverage extends to claims for the intentional infliction of emotional distress, in that the statute creates liability for the "negligence" of a common carrier by railroad resulting in "injury or death" to a worker. The Supreme Court, however, has "recognized generally that the FELA is a broad remedial statute, and ha[s] adopted a `standard of liberal construction in order to accomplish [Congress'] objects'" in enacting it. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. Buell, 480 U.S. 557, 562, 107 S.Ct. 1410, 94 L.Ed.2d 563 (1987) (second alteration in original) (quoting Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163, 180, 69 S.Ct. 1018, 93 L.Ed. 1282 (1949)). Of particular relevance to this case, despite the fact that FELA's text refers to injuries caused by a railroad's "negligence," the statute has long been understood to recognize causes of action for some intentional torts like battery as well. See id. at 562 n. 8, 107 S.Ct. 1410 (citing, inter alia, Jamison v. Encarnacion, 281 U.S. 635, 50 S.Ct. 440, 74 L.Ed. 1082 (1930)); see also Higgins v. Metro-North R.R. Co., 318 F.3d 422, 425 (2d Cir.2003) (citing Davis v. Green, 260 U.S. 349, 43 S.Ct. 123, 67 L.Ed. 299 (1922), and Harrison v. Mo. Pac. R.R. Co., 372 U.S. 248, 83 S.Ct. 690, 9 L.Ed.2d 711 (1963)).
The Supreme Court has only more recently addressed the question whether FELA, through its use of the phrase "injury or death," provides for recovery not only for physical but also purely emotional harms. In Buell, confronting for the first time the question whether a purely emotional injury is cognizable under FELA, the Court noted that the question "may not be susceptible to an all-inclusive `yes' or `no' answer." 480 U.S. at 570, 107 S.Ct. 1410. It found the factual record in the case before it insufficiently developed to allow it to come to a conclusion, vacating the lower court's determination that such harms were cognizable and remanding for further proceedings. See id.
In Gottshall, the Supreme Court returned to the issue, addressing in particular the question whether and to what extent a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress is cognizable under FELA. See 512 U.S. at 541, 114 S.Ct. 2396. The Court structured its analysis into two inquiries. First, it considered "FELA itself, its purposes and background and the construction [the Court has] given it over the years." Id. Second, "because `FELA jurisprudence gleans guidance from common-law developments,'" the Court considered the common law treatment of the NIED cause of action. See id. at 541-42, 114 S.Ct. 2396 (quoting Buell, 480 U.S. at 568, 107 S.Ct. 1410).
The Court then proceeded to the second inquiry, the relevant common law treatment of NIED claims, noting that "although common-law principles are not necessarily dispositive of questions arising under FELA, unless they are expressly rejected in the text of the statute, they are entitled to great weight in our analysis." Id. at 544, 114 S.Ct. 2396. As an initial matter, it held that NIED claims could be brought under FELA, given the wide recognition of the claim in some form by many American jurisdictions at the time FELA was passed, its near-universal recognition by the States at present, and the traditionally broad interpretation given to the term "injury" in the statute. Id. at 549-50, 114 S.Ct. 2396.
Having recognized NIED claims as cognizable under FELA, the Court next adopted the zone of danger test to define the scope of the duty FELA places on employers to avoid imposing emotional distress on their employees. Assessing three common-law tests for limiting liability for NIED claims, the Court made clear that it was adopting the test that "best reconciles the concerns of the common law with the principles underlying our FELA jurisprudence." Id. at 554, 114 S.Ct. 2396. The zone of danger test, the Court said, was "well established" when FELA was passed in 1908, id. at 554, 114 S.Ct. 2396, is still presently in use in many states, id. at 555, 114 S.Ct. 2396, and is "consistent with FELA's central focus on physical perils," id. "Under this test, a worker within the zone of danger of physical impact will be able to recover for emotional injury caused by fear of physical injury to himself, whereas a worker outside the zone will not." Id. at 556, 114 S.Ct. 2396. In rejecting the alternative "relative bystander" test now widely used by many American jurisdictions, the Court noted that the test developed several decades after FELA's enactment, such that it "lacks historical support," id. at 556, 114 S.Ct. 2396, and that in any event the Court "discern[ed] from FELA and its emphasis on protecting employees from physical harms no basis to extend recovery to bystanders outside the zone of danger," id. at 556-57, 114 S.Ct. 2396. Thus, under the zone of danger test adopted in Gottshall, recovery under FELA for an NIED claim is limited to "those plaintiffs who sustain a physical impact as a result of a defendant's negligent conduct, or who are placed in immediate risk of a physical harm by that conduct." Id. at 547-48, 114 S.Ct. 2396.
The zone of danger test was refined in Metro-North Commuter Railroad Co. v. Buckley, 521 U.S. 424, 117 S.Ct. 2113, 138 L.Ed.2d 560 (1997). In Buckley, the Supreme Court had to decide whether a railroad employee's exposure to asbestos, resulting in alleged emotional distress but no symptoms of illness at the time of the suit, constituted a "physical impact" meeting the requirements of the Gottshall zone of danger test. 521 U.S. at 428-29, 117 S.Ct. 2113. The Court held that such exposure did not constitute a physical impact "unless, and until, [the railroad worker] manifests
After Gottshall and Buckley, we examined in Higgins whether an IIED claim is cognizable under FELA and concluded that it was, reasoning that "[b]ecause intentional torts are recognized under FELA and claims for solely emotional injury are also recognized, ... claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress can be brought under FELA." 318 F.3d at 425 (internal citations omitted). The majority in Higgins expressly declined, however, to decide whether the zone of danger test applied by the Supreme Court in Gottshall was also applicable in FELA cases raising IIED claims, as the common-law requirement that an IIED claim be based on extreme and outrageous conduct was sufficient to dispose of the case before it. See id. at 425 n. 1.
Concurring in the result, then-Judge Sotomayor concluded that the zone of danger test did apply and would have decided the case on that basis. In doing so, she noted that while the Supreme Court in Gottshall considered an NIED claim, its discussion extended broadly to the types of injuries compensable under FELA. See id. at 430 (Sotomayor, J., concurring in the judgment). Analyzing the Court's decisions in Gottshall and Buckley, Judge Sotomayor reasoned that, while the common law's focus on the extreme or outrageous nature of a defendant's conduct may adequately guarantee that a claim of emotional distress is genuine, "this approach takes the focus away from the core concern of FELA as described in both Gottshall and Buckley: that employees must suffer some kind of physical harm, impact, or invasion before they may recover under the Act." Id. at 431-32.
As an initial matter, we agree with the concurring opinion in Higgins that Gottshall and Buckley are highly relevant to the zone of danger test's applicability in the IIED context, even though both decisions dealt with NIED claims. As the concurrence
We also agree with the concurrence in Higgins that, in analyzing the question here, we properly begin with the understanding that FELA's "core concern," see Higgins, 318 F.3d at 431 (Sotomayor, J., concurring in the judgment), is physical harm, impact, or invasion. As the Supreme Court noted approvingly in Gottshall, the Seventh Circuit has observed that "FELA was (and is) aimed at ensuring `the security of the person from physical invasions or menaces.'" Gottshall, 512 U.S. at 555-56, 114 S.Ct. 2396 (emphasis added) (quoting Lancaster v. Norfolk & Western Ry. Co., 773 F.2d 807, 813 (7th Cir.1985)). The Seventh Circuit went on to hold in the same case that even in the intentional tort context, "FELA does not create a cause of action for tortious harms brought about by acts that lack any physical contact or threat of physical contact," Lancaster, 773 F.2d at 813; see also Ray v. Consol. Rail Corp., 938 F.2d 704, 705 (7th Cir.1991) (reaffirming Lancaster). Indeed, our understanding of FELA is shared by all our sister Circuits that have expressly considered the extent to which claims based on emotional distress may be brought under the Act. See Adkins v. Seaboard Sys. R.R., 821 F.2d 340, 341-42 (6th Cir.1987) (per curiam) ("Although Buell notes that the FELA has been held to apply to some intentional torts, the FELA has not been applied to any intentional torts lacking any physical dimension such as assault.... [W]e have held that a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress is not cognizable under the FELA." (internal citations omitted)); cf. Rivera v. Nat'l R.R. Passenger Corp., 331 F.3d 1074, 1082 (9th Cir. 2003) ("In light of the historical interpretation of FELA as intended to compensate for injury caused by a physical phenomenon, defamation is not properly pled as a FELA claim.").
It is true that the common law does not currently impose a zone of danger test on IIED claims. The Restatement (Second) of Torts defines the tort in these terms: "One who by extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another is subject to liability for such emotional distress, and if bodily harm to the other results from it, for such bodily harm." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46(1) (1965). This approach has been followed by most, if not all, American jurisdictions, see Restatement
Our inquiry does not end with the present day state of the common law on this question, however. Under Gottshall, we are also compelled to "[c]onsider[] the question `in the appropriate historical context,'" 512 U.S. at 555, 114 S.Ct. 2396 (quoting Monessen Sw. Ry. Co. v. Morgan, 486 U.S. 330, 337, 108 S.Ct. 1837, 100 L.Ed.2d 349 (1988)), requiring here an assessment of the treatment of claims for IIED at common law at the time of FELA's passage in 1908, cf. id. at 556, 114 S.Ct. 2396 (noting that the "relative bystander" test for NIED claims "was not developed until 60 years after FELA's enactment, and therefore lacks historical support").
We find highly significant — though not dispositive per se, see Nelson v. Metro-North Commuter R.R., 235 F.3d 101, 107-10 (2d Cir.2000) — that the tort of IIED or outrage was in a nascent stage at the time of FELA's passage. The Restatement (First) of Torts, published in 1934, stated categorically that "conduct which is intended or which though not so intended is likely to cause only a mental or emotional disturbance to another does not subject the actor to liability (a) for emotional distress resulting therefrom or (b) for bodily harm unexpectably resulting from such disturbance." Id. § 46.
William L. Prosser, Intentional Infliction of Mental Suffering: A New Tort, 37
Reflective of the still undetermined contours of this emerging cause of action, when the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress was first added to the Restatement in a 1948 Supplement to the Restatement (First) of Torts, the provision simply stated that "[o]ne who, without a privilege to do so, intentionally causes severe emotional distress to another is liable... for such emotional distress." Restatement (First) of Torts, § 46 (Supp. 1948). It was not until the Restatement (Second) of Torts, published in 1965, that the cause of action assumed the form in which it was widely adopted and persists at present, its scope cabined only by the requirements that the defendant's underlying conduct be "extreme and outrageous" and the resulting emotional distress "severe." See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46 (1965).
We of course give "great weight" to common law principles in deciding claims brought under FELA, unless they are expressly rejected in the text of the statute. See Gottshall, 512 U.S. at 544, 114 S.Ct. 2396. At the same time, they are "not necessarily dispositive of questions arising under FELA," id., and we must "reconcile[] the concerns of the common law with the principles underlying our FELA jurisprudence," id. at 554, 114 S.Ct. 2396. At present, the common law in almost all American jurisdictions has largely settled on the formulation of the IIED tort put forward by the Restatement in 1965, using the outrageousness of the conduct and the severity of the injury to address concerns regarding the triviality or authenticity of claims that may be brought under its heading. Nevertheless, we agree with then-Judge Sotomayor in Higgins that this approach "takes the focus away from the core concern of FELA as described in both Gottshall and Buckley: that employees must suffer some kind of physical harm, impact, or invasion before they may recover under the Act." Higgins, 318 F.3d at 431-32 (Sotomayor, J., concurring in the judgment).
Neither FELA's terms nor any court decision of which we are aware supports expanding the injuries for which recovery is available under FELA to include those occurring outside a zone of physical danger. The IIED claim is a tort unbounded by any connection to the dangers originally prompting Congress to protect railroad
Goodrich contends that applying the zone of danger test in the IIED context will have the effect either of precluding recovery for otherwise meritorious IIED claims — perhaps limiting the successful claims to those most like the traditional tort of assault — or of channeling many such IIED actions into NIED claims instead, where the common law does not require that the underlying conduct of which a plaintiff complains be extreme or outrageous.
Goodrich argues that, even if we conclude that the zone of danger test applies
For all of the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is therefore