@pathwaylawfirm: Can you sue for emotional trauma even if you weren’t physically touched? Before the landmark California case, Dillon v. Legg, the law strictly followed the "Zone of Danger" rule—meaning if you weren't personally at risk of being hit, your grief and trauma didn't legally count. The California Supreme Court changed that forever, replacing a rigid standard with a human one based on foreseeability. Because watching your child suffer shouldn't require a physical scar to prove the depth of the injury.