Court Opinion

ID: 9711044
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:23:22.803763+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:01.843673
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE GREEN, concurring in part, and dissenting in part: I concur in the affirmance of the dismissal of the amended complaint. I dissent from the decision to remand to give plaintiff an opportunity to further amend. As stated by the majority, the theory of the complaint is that the conduct of defendant-mother in performing her custodial duties over her grandchildren committed the tort of outrage against her plaintiff-daughter, the children’s mother, because she acted either: (1) with intent to inflict unbearably severe emotional distress upon the daughter; or (2) acted with a reckless disregard for her daughter’s feelings, thus causing the daughter unbearable emotional distress. Because of the sensitive inter-family relations involved, I believe that courts should be most cautious in extending that tort to a situation of this nature. One placed in the position attributed to the defendant-mother here may feel compelled in the best interests of the children to take steps which are most likely to cause unendurable emotional distress to one in the situation attributed to the plaintiff-daughter. I am concerned with a rule that would permit recovery against the mother if her conduct objectively appeared to have been reckless. One amendment to the complaint had been made prior to the order appealed. Plaintiff made no request for further amendment and does not now complain that she should have been permitted to do so. I agree that the amended complaint failed to state a cause of action. Because of my reluctance to apply broadly the tort of outrage to conduct between members of a family, I am even more convinced than the majority that plaintiff’s ability to state a cause of action upon remand, by being more specific, is most unlikely. We do not usually remand to allow further amendment to a complaint upon which a party has tacitly elected to stand. I would not do so here.