Mercado

Plaintiff, Adela Mercado, appeals from a judgment in favor of her obstetrician, defendant Thomas Leong, in an action seeking damages for serious emotional distress resulting from a negligent delivery which inflicted permanent nerve damage upon her child. The trial court entered judgment in defendant’s favor, notwithstanding a jury verdict awarding damages to plaintiff. In doing so, the trial court concluded it was bound by the decision in Bro v. Glaser (1994) 22 Cal.App.4th 1398 [ 27 Cal.Rptr.2d 894 ], which requires a finding of outrageous conduct on the part of the defendant to award damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress, and the jury in this case did not so find. On appeal, plaintiff contends the trial court erred by applying the two-part test formulated in Bro and instead should have relied on the rule in Burgess v. Superior Court (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1064 [ 9 Cal.Rptr.2d 615 , 831 P.2d 1197 ] in determining the validity of her claim for negligent infliction of serious emotional distress. We agree with plaintiff and shall reverse.

Facts

Defendant provided prenatal care to plaintiff and attended her for part of her labor on the morning of her delivery.…