Opinion ID: 1930607
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Plaintiff's Damages

Text: Although the plaintiff at trial did not specifically quantify his damages, he did testify that it took him eleven days to find employment after his being terminated by the defendant. In addition to his economic damages, he claimed and testified that he suffered emotional distress and humiliation as a result of the defendant's wrongful conduct in initiating criminal proceedings against him that resulted in the loss of his National Guard security clearance and disqualification from an overseas National Guard mission. He offered no expert medical testimony in support of his claim for emotional distress. We have long required that a plaintiff seeking to recover a monetary award for the tortious infliction of emotional distress must establish, among other elements, that he or she experienced physical symptoms of their alleged emotional distress, and that expert medical testimony is needed to support the existence of a causal relationship between the defendant's wrongful conduct and his or her claimed emotional distress. Swerdlick v. Koch, 721 A.2d 849, 862-63 (R.I.1998); Vallinoto v. DiSandro, 688 A.2d 830, 838-40 (R.I.1997); Reilly v. United States, 547 A.2d 894, 896-99 (R.I. 1988). We have done so to safeguard against bogus or exaggerated emotional-damage claims. Hawkins v. Scituate Oil Co., 723 A.2d 771, 773 (R.I.1999). On the particular case facts before us, we do not find the absence of expert medical testimony to support the plaintiff's claim for damages resulting from his alleged emotional distress and humiliation to be fatal to that portion of his claim for damages. Unlike the usual case where a claim for emotional distress and humiliation is oftentimes made without objective facts to substantiate such a claim, expert medical testimony is deemed necessary to assist the factfinder in determining not only the validity but also the causal relationship of any emotional distress. In this case, the trial jury had before it clear objective and uncontroverted evidence concerning the plaintiff's complaint to the Warwick police; his arrest by the Warwick police; the criminal charge for disorderly conduct made against him; his arraignment on that charge; the revocation of his military security clearance and the resulting loss of his opportunity to accompany his National Guard unit in an overseas mission to Germany. [3] From such objective and uncontradicted evidence, we believe that an ordinary lay person or trial juror would be capable of determining without the aid of expert medical testimony whether emotional distress and humiliation could ordinarily and naturally follow from such events. Trial jurors, we are satisfied, do not leave their common sense in the cloakroom when they come to sit in the courtroom. In Hawkins, we permitted recovery for emotional distress without expert medical evidence of physical symptomology and without supporting medical expert opinion pertaining to its causation because the plaintiffs' emotional distress claims in that case could be supported by the defendant's tortious interference with the use and enjoyment of the plaintiffs' residence. [4] In this case, the trial evidence clearly reveals that the plaintiff Adams was particularly troubled over his being arrested for disorderly conduct and the resulting loss of his security clearance as a National Guard reservist. That loss of security clearance subsequently prevented him from participating with his National Guard unit in an overseas mission to Germany. The trial justice apparently noted the significance of those matters upon the plaintiff's emotional well-being, when in overruling defense counsel's objection to the plaintiff's testimony concerning those matters he noted: I'll allow it. To him it's very important. Whether it is to you or the jury remains to be seen. In passing upon and granting the defendant's Rule 50 motion to set aside the jury's damages award to the plaintiff, the trial justice pondered whether the proximate cause for any damages the plaintiff would otherwise have been entitled to recover had been interrupted when the plaintiff threatened Badot. However, he later acknowledged that the jury could have reasonably concluded from the plaintiff's testimony that he did suffer actual economic losses and mental anguish from his having been terminated and humiliated by Badot in the presence of the plaintiff's fellow employees as well as from embarrassment stemming from the police visit to his second employer inquiring about the threat made against Badot. He observed also that the jury could reasonably have concluded that the plaintiff's loss of his National Guard security clearance and subsequent inability to participate in overseas missions caused him emotional distress. [5] In ruling post-trial on the defendant's Rule 50 motion, upon which decision had been reserved, the trial justice was required to examine the trial evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. It appears that he failed to do so. The record discloses that the plaintiff at trial had presented sufficient evidence of his economic loss and emotional distress to support the jury's damage award. Therefore, the trial justice erred in granting the defendant's Rule 50 motion with regard to the trial jury's award of damages to the plaintiff.