IIED Intentional Torts of Emotional Distress

Definition

defendant intentionally or recklessly engages in extreme and outrageous conduct that causes the plaintiff severe emotional distress.

Intent—The defendant must:

o Intend to cause severe emotional distress; or

o Act with recklessness as to the risk of causing severe emotional distress.

Extreme and Outrageous Conduct

Conduct that exceeds the possible limits of human decency, so as to be entirely intolerable in a civilized society. The character of the conduct must be outrageous and the conduct must be sufficiently unusual to be extreme.

Courts are more likely to find conduct or language to be extreme and outrageous if:

• The defendant is in a position of authority or influence over the plaintiff; or

• The plaintiff is a member of a group that has a heightened sensitivity (such as young children or the elderly).

Public Figures—Constitutional Limitations

Public figures and public officials must show that the words contain a false statement of fact that was made with “actual malice.

• Actual malice—with knowledge that the statement was false or with reckless disregard of its potential falsity.

o The Supreme Court has suggested that even private plaintiffs cannot recover if the conduct is speech in the context of a matter of public concern.

Conduct Toward Third Parties

If the defendant directs extreme and outrageous conduct toward one party and a different party experiences severe emotional distress because of that conduct, the doctrine of transferred intent may apply, but only in certain circumstances.

a. Related bystanders

An immediate family member of the victim who is present at the time of the conduct and contemporaneously perceives the conduct may recover for IIED regardless of whether that family member suffers bodily injury as a result of the distress.

b. Defendant’s purpose

If the defendant’s purpose in harming an individual is to cause severe emotional distress to a third party, the third party can recover for IIED without showing that he was a close family member of the harmed individual or that he contemporaneously perceived the conduct.

Editor's Note 1: Note that the traditional doctrine of transferred intent does not apply to IIED when the defendant intended to commit a different intentional tort (such as a battery) against a different victim.

Causation

defendant’s actions must be a cause in fact of the plaintiff’s harm.

Damages

plaintiff must prove severe emotional distress beyond what a reasonable person should endure. The more extreme the defendant’s conduct, the less evidence is required of the severity of the plaintiff’s emotional distress.

o Often, the outrageous nature of the conduct is evidence of the plaintiff’s distress.

o Hypersensitivity—if the plaintiff experiences an unreasonable level of emotional distress, then the defendant is only liable if they knew of the plaintiff’s hypersensitivity.

o Physical injury is not required.

Exam Tip 1: Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) is often tested against negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED).