Opinion ID: 736850
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Claims against Nassim

Text: 23 Rendall-Speranza brought claims of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Nassim. The alleged battery occurred on August 25, 1994, but the claim for emotional distress rests also upon the earlier incidents of unwelcome physical contact alleged in the complaint.
24 The district court analyzed Nassim's immunity under § 2(b) of the IOIA, 22 U.S.C. § 288a(b), which states, in pertinent part, that [i]nternational organizations, their property and their assets, wherever located, and by whomsoever held, shall enjoy the same immunity from suit and every form of judicial process as is enjoyed by foreign governments. Nassim, however, is not an international organization; he is an employee of an international organization. As such, the provision of the IOIA relevant to him is clearly not § 2(b) but § 7(b), 22 U.S.C. § 288d(b): officers and employees of [international] organizations shall be immune from suit and legal process relating to acts performed by them in their official capacity and falling within their functions as such representatives, officers, or employees. 25 Rendall-Speranza does not deny that the district court applied the wrong section of the IOIA to Nassim. Nor can she deny that Nassim was acting in his official capacity during the incident of August 25, for she alleged as much in her second amended complaint when she stated that the IFC has authorized such assaults as within the scope of employment of employees such as ... [323 U.S.App.D.C. 287] Nassim. Having thus opened the door in order to draw in the IFC, Rendall-Speranza let Nassim slip out. Even aside from the concession in the complaint, however, the IFC has stated unequivocally that if Nassim battered Rendall-Speranza on the evening of August 25, 1994, then he did so in his official capacity; and the district court accepted, for the purpose of deciding the motions to dismiss, the defendant's admission that when the alleged assault occurred Nassim was acting within the scope of his employment by taking steps to protect the employee's offices from trespass and to protect the employee's files from tampering or theft. Rendall-Speranza has not questioned the court's acceptance of this admission, which is consistent with her second amended complaint. Accordingly, it is clear that Nassim is immune from suit for the alleged battery of August 25, 1994. 26
27 Because there is no specific statute limiting the time for filing a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress in the District of Columbia, the D.C. Court of Appeals has held that an independent action for intentional infliction of emotional distress is subject to the District's three-year residual limitation period, D.C.Code § 12-301(8). See Saunders v. Nemati, 580 A.2d 660 (1990). However, a claim for emotional distress that is intertwined with any of the causes of action for which a period of limitation is specifically provided, including assault and battery, is subject to the limitation period for the intertwined claim. Saunders, 580 A.2d at 664-65; see Hunter v. District of Columbia, 943 F.2d 69, 72 (D.C.Cir.1991) (where complaint does not allege facts showing that defendant intentionally caused emotional distress by conduct independent of assault and battery, applicable limitation period is one year provided for assault and battery). 28 Rendall-Speranza's claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress is clearly intertwined with--indeed it depends utterly upon--her allegations of battery. The complaint states generally that Nassim subjected Rendall-Speranza to pervasive unwelcome, harassing, demeaning and humiliating language and physical contacts. Although a complaint based solely upon demeaning and humiliating language (as was the claim for emotional distress in Saunders) would be independent of any battery, that is not the nature of Rendall-Speranza's claim. Every incident that, Rendall-Speranza alleges, contributed to her emotional distress involved an assault and battery. Accordingly, the district court did not err in holding that the one-year period of limitation for assault and battery applies to Rendall-Speranza's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. 29 The district court then rescued Rendall-Speranza's claim, however, by treating the various acts of battery she alleged as one continuous tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress; because the last act in that series occurred within the limitation period (on August 25, 1994), the district court held that Rendall-Speranza's claim is not time-barred after all. Nassim argues, on the other hand, that an act for which he is immune under § 7(b) of the IOIA--a provision that was not even arguably affected by the FSIA--cannot be the hook by which he is snagged and held liable for a continuing tort for which he is not immune. 30 If an act for which a defendant is immune from suit could save an otherwise time-barred claim from which he is not immune, then the immunity would be but a paper shield. No person or entity so protected could know whether its supposedly immune act will in fact occasion (or aggravate) its liability for a non-immune act. Accordingly, we hold that when immunity protects a defendant from liability for an allegedly tortious act, and that act is the only act that occurred within the applicable limitation period, the statute of limitations bars a claim against the defendant. Cf. Neufeld v. Neufeld, 910 F.Supp. 977, 983 (S.D.N.Y.1996) (complaint may not rely upon recent yet non-actionable conduct in an attempt to resurrect proper claims that would otherwise be barred by statute of limitations); S.W. Daniel, Inc. v. Urrea, 715 F.Supp. 1082, 1087 (N.D.Ga.1989) (cause of action can not accrue based upon allegedly false testimony of government [323 U.S.App.D.C. 288] agent who is absolutely immune from liability for his testimony).