In conclusion, it is unlikely that Cate will be able to recover for her NIED claim under the bystander theory. Under New York law, a plaintiff may recover from negligent infliction of emotional distress when he or she can prove that he or she became aware contemporaneously that an event has caused an injury to an immediate family while the plaintiff was in the zone of danger. Cate will fail to show that Jon is an immediate family because not only she is not a first-degree blood relative of Jon, she does not have a legal custody of him because he is an adult. Cate will be able to establish that she was in the zone of danger at the time of the accident because although she was not within the proximity from that allowed her to directly witness
