District Court of Appeal of
171 Cal.App.2d 107, 339 P.2d 910.
Prosser,
p. 60-61
Facts:
The defendants
beat up the plaintiff’s father in front of the plaintiff. The plaintiff alleged that this caused her
severe emotional distress and sued. The defendants
demurred and the suit was dismissed. The
plaintiff appealed the dismissal.
Issue: Can a witness to a battery
state a cause of action for intentional infliction of mental distress?
Rule: In order for the defendants
to be liable for intentional infliction of mental distress, the beating must be
done for the purpose of causing the plaintiff mental distress, or else the defendants
must possess substantial certainty that the beating will cause the plaintiff
substantial distress.
Analysis: The court found that the
claim failed to allege that either condition for intentional infliction of
mental distress was met.
Conclusion: The court affirmed the judgment
of dismissal.
Notes
and Questions
1. The intent for
intentional infliction of mental distress must be directed at the plaintiff in
order for there to be a cause of action.
2. Can the intent
to inflict mental distress be transferred?
Is there a slippery slope problem if this is allowed? Since intentional infliction of mental
distress is not one of the torts that was originally
under the writ of trespass, the transferred intent doctrine need not and ought
not apply.
3. The case
described involves mental distress that causes physical distress, and this
could mean a different tort applies, or there could be a different application
of the same tort.
4. This case
differs from the main case in that the defendant was aware to a substantial
certainty that his action would cause severe emotional distress in the plaintiff.
5. The baby sitter
knew with substantial certainty that severe emotional distress would be
inflicted on the parent, but the baby sitter’s parents (though they might under
a different tort be liable for their child’s behavior) could not have known and
thus could not have intended to inflict such distress.
6. I think the plaintiff
being present should be considered by the factfinder in determining the
severity of the distress and possibly damages, but I don’t think this should be
a “black letter” requirement.
7. It seems
problematic to call a dead body a form of property belonging to the next of
kin. As far as blind person X goes,
there would be several theories to go on.
If the dead body for this particular purpose can really be considered
property, X might have a cause of action for trespass to chattels. If the dead eye could be considered a part of
X’s person, X might have a cause of action for battery. Maybe the best bet would be to go with intentional
infliction of mental distress. That’s
what happened in the
8. Alright Magruder!