AZ Common Law Causes of Action INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS (2011)

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

INTENTIONAL INFLICTION
OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS

Elements

“The tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress requires proof of three elements:

First, the conduct by the defendant must be “extreme” and “outrageous”;

second, the defendant must either intend to cause emotional distress or recklessly disregard the near certainty that such distress will result from his conduct; and

third, severe emotional distress must indeed occur as a result of defendant’s conduct.”

Citizen Publ’g Co. v. Miller, 210 Ariz. 513, 516, ¶ 11, 115 P.3d 107, 110 (2005) (emphasis in original) (quoting Ford v. Revlon, Inc., 153 Ariz. 38, 43, 734 P.2d 580, 585 (1987)). See also Lucchesi v. Frederic N. Stimmell, M.D., Ltd., 149 Ariz. 76, 78-79, 716 P.2d 1013, 1015-16 (1986); Watts v. Golden Age Nursing Home, 127 Ariz. 255, 258, 619 P.2d 1032, 1035 (1980).

Proof

1. Extreme and Outrageous Conduct

For intentional infliction of emotional distress, “there is liability where the conduct has been so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community ... in which ... an average member of the community would ... exclaim, ‘Outrageous!’” Ford v. Revlon, Inc., 153 Ariz. 38, 43, 734 P.2d 580, 585 (1987) (quoting RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 46 cmt. d). See also Watts v. Golden Age Nursing Home, 127 Ariz. 255, 258, 619 P.2d 1032, 1035 (1980).

Liability does not extend to “mere insults, indignities, threats, annoyances, petty...