Greenberg

In this tragic case, real parties in interest Denise Smith and her son, Brandon Smith (plaintiffs), sued petitioner Laurence Greenberg, a psychiatrist, for wrongful death due to medical negligence after petitioner’s patient shot and killed two members of plaintiffs’ immediate family. Brandon also sued petitioner for emotional distress. Petitioner moved for summary judgment, but the trial court denied his motion. Petitioner now seeks a writ of mandate directing the trial court to grant him summary judgment. For the reasons discussed below, we grant the petition and issue the requested writ.

FACTS

William Freund, a neighbor of the Smith family, suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, a disorder described by plaintiffs as “a form of autism, which negatively affects an individual’s social skills,” and by petitioner as a condition “characterized by impairment and oddity of social interaction and restricted interest and behavior reminiscent of those seen in autistic disorder[, but without] significant delays ... in language, cognitive development, or age-appropriate skills.”

In June 2001, when Freund was 15 years old, a pediatric neurologist reported Freund was being teased by…