Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer - Article

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) is a tort claim that was created recently for intentional conduct that results in extreme emotional distress. Some courts and commentators have substituted “mental” for “emotional,” but the tort is the same. Some jurisdictions refer to IIED as the tort of outrage.

Like any intentional tort, IIED has elements that must be met. IIED has four:

• A defendant must have acted intentionally or recklessly.
• The defendant’s conduct must be extreme and outrageous.
• The defendant’s actions caused the distress.
• The plaintiff must suffer severe emotional distress as a result.

IIED was created to address a problem that would arise when applying the common law tort of assault. Assault did not allow for liability when the threat was not imminent. A common case would be a future threat of harm that would not constitute common law assault. Nevertheless, the threat would cause emotional harm to the recipient.

IIED was created to guard against emotional abuse. It allows a victim of emotional distress to receive compensation in situations where he or she would otherwise be barred from compensation under common law.

Originally, a plaintiff could not recover for physical injury that was due to fright alone. There had to have been an impact even though the defendant was shown to have operated a railroad negligently, shock without impact. Even with intentional conduct, absent material damage, claims for emotional harm were similarly barred.

Contact a Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer

If you have been the victim of intentional infliction of emotional distress, contact the Chicago personal injury lawyers of Friedman & Bonebrake at 312-466-8200.