Freund

*469 Opinion

In this tragic case, 19-year-old William Freund, who suffered from Asperger’s syndrome and lived as a dependent with his parents (defendants Karen and Dennis Freund), shot and killed two people before going home and committing suicide. The victims were members of the immediate family of plaintiffs Denise Smith and her son, Brandon Smith.

Plaintiffs sued defendants for wrongful death, alleging defendants negligently supervised their son. Brandon also sued defendants for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Defendants moved for summary judgment, contending “that as a matter of law they had no duty to control/supervise their adult son and could not warn [plaintiffs] of a potential threat they had no knowledge of.” Plaintiffs opposed the summary judgment motion and moved for a continuance so they could depose William’s doctors. The court denied plaintiffs’ continuance motion and granted defendants’ summary judgment motion. On appeal, we reversed the judgment, holding the court abused its discretion by denying plaintiffs a continuance to complete their discovery. We explained we could not “say that, regardless of anything plaintiffs could have learned by…