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Emotional Distress: Case Study

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A claim for intentional inflection of emotional distress will be established when the plaintiff is able to prove that: 1) the defendant intended to inflicted emotional distress or knew or should have known emotional distress would likely result from his conduct; 2) the defendant's conduct was extreme and outrageous; 3) the defendant's actions were the cause of the plaintiff's distress; and, 4) the plaintiff suffered severe emotional distress. Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 355 N.E.2d 315, 319 (Mass. 1976). Ms. Stockton will likely be able to meet to the first element of the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress. Ms. Stockton must prove that the radio station broadcasters intended to inflict emotional distress or that the broadcasters …show more content…

Stockton will be able to prove that the defendant's actions were the cause of her distress. Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 355 N.E.2d 315, 319 (Mass. 1976). Ms. Stockton must prove that the broadcasters actions were the cause of the plaintiff's distress. Id. To establish that a plaintiff's distress was a result of defendant's actions the court in Agis, found that a clear time frame had been established from when the defendant fired Agis to when she suffered emotional distress immediately following the unfair firing. Id. at 317. The immediate distress causation to meet the burden of causation. Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 355 N.E.2d 315, (Mass. 1976). The court also found in Simon v. Solomon that a landlords inaction was also enough to establish causation. Simon v. Solomon, 431 N.E.2d 556, (Mass. 1982). In Simon, the defendant's inaction in regards to fixing a recurring problem that caused the plaintiff's apartment to continuously flood was enough to establish causation. Id. The court concluded that but for the defendant's inaction the plaintiff would not have suffered the distress and therefore the distress was the result of such inaction. Simon v. Solomon, 431 N.E.2d 556, 566 (Mass. 1982). In Ms. Stockton's case prior to the broadcasters repeated conduct she had not suffered from emotional distress, but following the repeated conduct by the broadcasters she began to suffer distress. As established by Simon, but for the broadcasters repeated conduct Ms. Stockton would not …show more content…

Stockton will likely be able to prove that the distress she suffered was severe. Ms. Stockton must prove that she suffered severe emotional distress. Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 355 N.E.2d 315, 319 (Mass. 1976). The court in Agis held that the distress was severe is it was “of a nature that no reasonable man could be expected to endure” Id. The same case found that the plaintiff's bursting into tears and experiencing mental anguish was enough to establish that the emotional distress suffered was severe. Id. at 317. The court in Simon also established that the plaintiff's emotional distress as severe due to her becoming withdrawn and ashamed, as a result of the defendant's inaction. Simon v. Solomon, 431 N.E.2d 556, 560 (Mass. 1982). The symptoms of emotional distress have been found by courts to be enough to find it to be severe, even if the defendant's actions simply resulted in the plaintiff crying and is not limited to requiring medical attention. Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 355 N.E.2d 315, 317 (Mass. 1976). In Ms. Stockton's case following the broadcasters mocking of Ms. Stockton she felt embarrassed by their conduct. After the broadcasters repeated the conduct Ms. Stockton became a nervous wreck that was unable to look at her wedding pictures without crying. This behavior the court in Agis would have found to be enough of an emotional distress to be severe. Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 355 N.E.2d 315, (Mass. 1976). Thus, Ms. Stockton will likely to able to prove

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