Section 37 Applicability in Employment Context

• Library: Emp-Emp Law 2000

In Rooney v. National Super Markets, Inc., 668S.W.2d 649, 651–52 (Mo. App. E.D. 1984), the court upheld a summary judgment for the defendant when the plaintiff’s petition asserted the tort of outrageous conduct or infliction of emotional distress in a termination context. The court concluded from the plaintiff’s deposition testimony that the circumstances of the plaintiff’s termination for advising another person of a possible employment opening were not so extreme and outrageous as to be tortious.

In Gibson v. Hummel, 688 S.W.2d 4 (Mo. App. E.D. 1985), the trial court’s award of actual and punitive damages on a theory of intentional infliction of emotional distress was reversed. The defendant employer, who had experienced severe inventory shortages, forced the plaintiff to take a polygraph examination and, when the test results showed some signs of deception, forced the plaintiff to resign. The court concluded that the defendant’s conduct under the circumstances was not sufficiently extreme and outrageous and that there was insufficient evidence that the defendant acted intentionally or recklessly.

Hood v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 648 S.W.2d 167, 168 (Mo. App. E.D. 1983), involved an employee’s unsuccessful effort to plead the tort of outrageous conduct or infliction...