Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress: This claim for emotional distress occurs when a defendant’s actions are intentional or reckless. Id. [38] The court held: [W]here conduct is merely negligent, not willful, wanton, or vindictive, and physical impact is lacking, there can be no recovery for emotional disturbance alone. In later decades, however, many state courts dropped this requirement and instead simply required objective evidence of mental distress. 618, 619 (1902). 50, 53 (2000) (Virginia Beach City). at 28. and was unable to concentrate at work.”[64] Thus, the court found that the alleged effect was “not the type of extreme emotional distress that [was] so severe that no reasonable person could [have been] expected to endure it.”[65] The court noted that: The term “emotional distress” travels under many labels, such as, “mental suffering, mental anguish, mental or nervous shock . 100 Va. 51, 53–54,     40 S.E. Id. . 63 Va. Cir. Intentional infliction of emotional distress generally involves some kind of conduct that is so terrible that it causes severe emotional trauma to the victim. In this way, the Virginia court joined the majority of jurisdictions in abandoning the “physical impact rule.” See supra note 21. [184], However, turning to the fourth element of the tort, severity, which the court characterized as “perhaps the most difficult to apply to the facts of a case,” the court held that the plaintiff failed to carry her burden. The plaintiff also claimed that Bowles had spread rumors among their neighbors about his wife’s alleged infidelity. [11], And even if the defendant’s conduct was extreme and outrageous, the plaintiff’s distress must be severe. In the cases at hand, the Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged physical and emotional injuries resulting from physical and sexual abuse by Williams and Miller. But the question of what constitutes “severe emotional distress,” caused by the defendant, is one that the Virginia courts should show a willingness to reconsider. The result would be a better workplace and a more balanced view of employee rights. The Russo court had no trouble finding that White had acted intentionally, thus satisfying the first element of the tort. [131]. Vol. Category: Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. 1971). 170 Va. 329, 196 S.E. In 1991, the Richmond City Circuit Court decided the case of Hazlewood v. Recall, “[a] claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress is not favored by the law,”[12] and sleeplessness, nausea, headaches, fright, nervousness, and dread of the future are insufficient to state a claim for IIED absent an accompanying claim that the plaintiff suffered an injury resulting from the stress, or that he required medical treatment or underwent hospitalization. Russo v. White, 241 Va. 23, 25, 400 S.E.2d 160, 161 (1991). 247 Va. 150, 439 S.E.2d 394, 395 (1994). Law Inst. [23] The plaintiff also claimed that Bowles had spread rumors among their neighbors about his wife’s alleged infidelity. at 28, 400 S.E.2d at 163. [10] Angry and embarrassed, Bodewig quit her job at the K-Mart when her shift ended that day. at 795. [57] He began stalking her, calling her house and hanging up on her 340 times in two months. Three, there was a causal connection between the wrongdoer’s conduct and the emotional distress. [144]. The term “intentional infliction of emotional distress” can be defined as: conduct. 283 (2019). So what does this mean for an employee working in the Commonwealth of Virginia who suffers what he or she believes to be severe emotional distress stemming from the outrageous conduct of an employer? . 241 Va. 23, 400 S.E.2d 160 (1991). [189]. Three, there was a causal connection between the wrongdoer’s conduct and the emotional distress. [84]. [14] Indeed, the notion that an employee could seek damages for the tort of outrageous conduct on the part of his or her employer was being increasingly accepted in many state courts in the 1970s. [1] That evening, she was ringing up the sale of some curtains for a customer named Alice Golden, but when she called out the price, Golden told her that the curtains were on sale and that Bodewig was overcharging her. Supp. 2019). The Emergence of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Claims in Virginia, The specific facts of this case are remarkable. [7] Golden was allowed to watch as Bodewig removed all her clothes except her underwear, at which point Golden said further disrobing was unnecessary, as she could see through Bodewig’s underwear and there was no money there. [99] The court held that requiring an employee to submit to a random drug test did not constitute outrageous conduct; thus, Blakeman did not meet the second prong of the four part test. What conduct is outrageous and intolerable enough to state a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress? Workers must not be so thin-skinned as to allow themselves to be unnerved by the rough and tumble of everyday life. When someone else's purposeful action causes you harm, you might have a viable personal injury case. Linda Bodewig enjoyed her job as a cashier at her local K-Mart in Oregon, and she had worked there without incident until the evening of March 29, 1979. [144] The Act provides the exclusive remedy for employees seeking relief from such injuries, but both conditions must be met; that is, the injury must both arise out of the employment and in the course of employment. . Id. [46] Even though the young boys did not identify Womack as the perpetrator, Womack argued that the mere use of his image in the court proceeding under these circumstances was outrageous conduct, falsely implicating him as a possible child molester.[47]. [102]. LEXIS 296 (Va. Cir. In rejecting Russo’s argument that her condition constituted severe emotional distress, the court stated: “There is no claim, for example, that she had any objective physical injury caused by the stress, that she sought medical attention, that she was confined at home or in a hospital, or that she lost income.”[67] These requirements, grafted onto the Restatement’s standard, meant that it was quite unlikely that a plaintiff would prevail, absent physical injury resulting from the outrageous conduct. .”[14] Without some physical manifestation of injury, or at least treatment for conditions arising from the stress, the plaintiff cannot recover. Rosalie Eldridge was employed by Richard Seifert and his attorney to obtain a photograph of Danny Lee Womack. A cause of action for IIED, unaccompanied by physical injury, will lie when: One, the wrongdoer’s conduct was intentional or reckless. Supp. 1999) (employees who were harassed by supervisor experienced anxiety and fear, sought medical treatment, and were prescribed medication to alleviate their problems suffered severe emotional distress). [141], As seen from these decisions, the Virginia circuit courts have evolved in their view of intentional infliction of emotional distress claims involving sexual harassment in the workplace. Law Inst. [9] When Bodewig came back to work the next day, however, she was told to work her register along with a second employee, which Bodewig understood to mean that she was under surveillance. [147]. [35] The Hughes court cited as authority for the proposition that mental distress and physical injuries unaccompanied by actual physical contact could be grounds for recovery the earlier case of Moore v. Jefferson Hospital, Inc.[36] There, the actions of a hospital employee named Phyllis Hatter who entered an operating room and prevented a physician from performing surgery on the plaintiff were held to constitute an intentional tort on her part, which, even without actual physical contact with the plaintiff, caused him physical and mental injury.[37]. . at 55, 40 S.E. Id. Co., 239 Va. 397, 398–99, 389 S.E.2d 712, 713–14 (1990). In Magallon v. Verizon Wireless Unlimited, Inc., the Fairfax County Circuit Court found that the plaintiff alleged outrageous and intolerable behavior when she alleged that the defendant, her former manager, called her sexually demeaning names, threatened her with violence, profanely disparaged her character by accusing her of having sexual relations with the business owner, and took her car and house keys when she rebuffed his sexual advances. 1965)). Seitz v. Philip Morris, Inc., 6 Va. Cir. [44] He agreed to have her take his picture, and that photograph was later used as one of a series presented in court to the child victims of abuse in an effort to have them identify the perpetrator. [112], Hygh brought a number of claims against Beltran and the company, including a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, before the Fairfax County Circuit Court. [172] Further, held the court, Padilla “sufficiently alleged physical and emotional injuries resulting from physical and sexual abuse” by her fellow employees, their alleged conduct was outrageous, and they intended to cause her distress by continued sexual assault and harassment. [6] After a check of the surrounding area and an audit of the cash register revealed no missing money, the manager then told Bodewig to accompany a female assistant manager to the women’s public restroom, where she would be strip-searched in order to prove to Golden that she didn’t have the money on her person. [183]. 460 (Fairfax County 2012). [38]. [55] The Supreme Court of Virginia’s 1991 ruling in Russo v. White[56] illustrates that difficulty. [169]. [73]. [49], Applying the four elements of the tort, the court found that there was evidence that Eldridge’s conduct was extreme and outrageous, that a reasonable person would have “recognized the likelihood of the serious mental distress that would be caused in involving an innocent person [like Womack] in [a] child molest[ation] case[],” and that Womack’s emotional distress was severe. [15]    See, e.g., McGallon v. Verizon Wireless Unlimited, Inc., 85 Va. Cir. As a further hurdle, the statute of limitations for a claim of IIED in Virginia is two (2) years,[22] so if you think you are the victim of IIED and meet the criteria above, you may wish to discuss your case with an attorney as soon as possible, before memories fade, witnesses disappear, or your time to file runs out. He agreed to have her take his picture, and that photograph was later used as one of a series presented in court to the child victims of abuse in an effort to have them identify the perpetrator. We hold, however, that where the claim is for emotional disturbance and physical injury resulting therefrom, there may be recovery for negligent conduct, notwithstanding the lack of physical impact, provided the injured party properly pleads and proves by clear and convincing evidence that his physical injury was the natural result of fright or shock proximately caused by the defendant’s negligence. [54] It is worth noting, however, that while the facts in Womack presented an extreme scenario, clearly meeting the second element of the tort, the decision may have set such a high bar for what constitutes “outrageous conduct” that the Virginia courts, returning to Womack as a touchstone, might have viewed the cases that were to follow as falling short of the mark. 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