In a matter of first impression, a Pennsylvania judge considered whether paramours can be considered “closely related” in order to permit recovery for negligent infliction of emotional distress (NEID) when one observes the death or injury of the other.

President Judge Gary E. Norton for the Common Pleas courts for Columbia and Montour counties authored the Oct. 26 opinion where he concluded that a man’s live-in girlfriend was not “closely related” to make a negligent infliction of emotional distress.