Opinion ID: 728743
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Negligent/Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Claim

Text: 28 Marques also appeals the district court's grant of a directed verdict for the city on his claim that the city's actions either negligently or intentionally caused him emotional distress. Under Rhode Island law, a plaintiff, to succeed, must show that 1) the defendant's conduct was intentional or in reckless disregard of the probability of causing emotional distress, 2) the conduct was extreme and outrageous, 3) there was a causal connection between the wrongful conduct and the emotional distress, and 4) the emotional distress in question was severe. See Champlin v. Washington Trust Co., 478 A.2d 985, 989 (R.I.1984) (adopting standard of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46). Additionally, Rhode Island requires a physical manifestation of the emotional distress. Id. at 990. The district court rejected this claim on the ground that the evidence presented was insufficient to warrant a finding that the city's actions in terminating Marques were extreme and outrageous. 12 We agree. While being terminated several days shy of the end of his probation period may not have been pleasant for Marques, we do not believe that a jury would properly have found on the evidence presented that the conduct of Barlow, Gammell, and Lemont was sufficient to make an average member of the community ... exclaim 'Outrageous'. Borden v. Paul Revere Life Ins. Co., 935 F.2d 370, 380 (1st Cir.1991) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46, comment (d)). 13