Legal Definitions - infliction of emotional distress

Infliction of Emotional Distress refers to a legal claim where one person's conduct causes severe emotional suffering to another. This area of law is generally divided into two main categories:

• Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED)

  This occurs when someone, through extreme and outrageous behavior, deliberately or recklessly causes severe emotional suffering to another person. To prove IIED, the conduct must be so extreme that it goes beyond all possible bounds of decency, is regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. The person committing the act must have intended to cause severe emotional distress, or acted with reckless disregard for the likelihood of causing such distress, and the victim must have actually suffered severe emotional distress as a result.

  • Example 1: Malicious Hoax

    A disgruntled former employee, seeking revenge, repeatedly calls their previous boss's elderly mother, falsely claiming that her son has been arrested for a serious crime and is facing a lengthy prison sentence. The former employee makes these calls over several days, providing fabricated details, causing the mother immense anxiety, sleeplessness, and a severe panic attack requiring medical attention.

    Explanation: The former employee's actions are extreme and outrageous, clearly intended to cause severe emotional distress to the mother. The repeated, false claims about her son's arrest go beyond acceptable conduct, and the mother's subsequent panic attack and medical need demonstrate severe emotional distress.

  • Example 2: Workplace Bullying and Sabotage

    A supervisor, aware of an employee's documented history of severe anxiety and depression, systematically hides the employee's completed work, spreads false rumors about their incompetence to colleagues, and publicly humiliates them during meetings, all with the goal of forcing them to quit. This campaign of harassment causes the employee to suffer a nervous breakdown, requiring hospitalization and extensive therapy.

    Explanation: The supervisor's targeted and persistent actions, knowing the employee's vulnerability, constitute extreme and outrageous conduct. The intent was clearly to cause severe distress, and the employee's nervous breakdown and need for hospitalization demonstrate the severity of the emotional harm.

• Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED)

  This occurs when someone's careless or negligent actions, rather than intentional malice, cause another person to suffer severe emotional distress. Unlike IIED, NIED typically does not require extreme or outrageous conduct. However, it often has stricter requirements regarding the foreseeability of the distress, the severity of the emotional harm, and sometimes a physical manifestation of the distress or a close relationship between the victim and someone physically harmed by the negligence.

  • Example 1: Witnessing a Loved One's Injury

    A pedestrian is walking with their young child when a distracted driver, negligently looking at their phone, swerves onto the sidewalk and strikes the child. The parent witnesses the entire incident unfold, and although physically unharmed themselves, they subsequently develop severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, and debilitating anxiety that prevents them from working.

    Explanation: The distracted driver's negligence caused physical harm to the child, which the parent directly witnessed. The parent's severe PTSD, a recognized psychological injury, demonstrates the severe emotional distress caused by the negligent act, fulfilling the requirements for NIED in many jurisdictions.

  • Example 2: Medical Error Causing Distress

    A hospital laboratory negligently mixes up patient samples, leading a patient to be falsely informed by their doctor that they have a terminal and aggressive form of cancer. For several agonizing weeks, the patient and their family prepare for the worst, making difficult life decisions, before the error is discovered. The patient suffers profound emotional trauma, including severe depression and anxiety, requiring long-term psychological counseling.

    Explanation: The hospital's negligent handling of samples directly led to the patient receiving devastating false news. While not intentional, the carelessness caused severe and foreseeable emotional distress, which manifested in significant psychological harm requiring professional treatment.