Court Opinion

ID: 9644087
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:47:55.379814+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:08.473872
License: Public Domain

HECHT, Justice,
concurring.
Two months ago this Court recognized for the first time a tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress. Twyman v. Twyman, 855 S.W.2d 619 (Tex.1993). This tort allows recovery of money damages for severe emotional distress caused by another’s extreme and outrageous conduct if that conduct is intentional or reckless. There are, however, no legal standards by which judges and juries can distinguish conduct which is extreme and outrageous from conduct which is not. And because outrageousness is entirely in the eye of the beholder, it can neither be proved nor disproved by evidence. Liability under this tort depends upon whether a jury, trial court or appellate court, as the case may be, is offended by the particular circumstances of the case before it. This case, the first in which the Court attempts to decide what is extreme and outrageous conduct, demonstrates the impossibility of the effort.
Most of Diana Casas’ complaints are described in the Court’s opinion. Since this is a summary judgment case, we must take Casas’ evidence as true. Her affidavit states that Wornick Co. dismissed her for reasons that were unfounded, and that she was denied any opportunity to discuss her *737termination further with her superiors. An affidavit by Wornick’s retired vice president of operations confirms Casas’ assertions that she was a highly rated, valuable employee. Casas' affidavit suggests that because she is a middle-aged Hispanic woman who insists on acting ethically and was aware of occasions in which another employee’s actions had not been entirely legal, Wornick wanted to replace her with a younger, less experienced, and more “malleable” person. Again, the affidavit of Wornick’s vice president confirms that the employee named by Casas may have acted unethically and possibly illegally. Casas also complains that she was immediately and unceremoniously escorted from the premises by a security guard.
Was Wornick’s conduct outrageous? Ca-sas was an employee at will and subject to termination without notice or cause. The summary judgment record does not indicate that Wornick violated any legal right she may have had. But that is not the issue here. The issue is: was Wornick’s conduct outrageous? The trial court thought it was not, as a matter of law. One member of the appeals court panel agreed, but the other two concluded that the issue was a factual dispute to be decided by a jury. This Court agrees with the trial court. But why? What principles inform this decision?
There are none to be found in the Court’s opinion. The Court holds that Wornick’s conduct was not outrageous for two reasons: first, because no other reported decision has ever held similar conduct to be outrageous, and second, because a contrary result would impinge on the doctrine of employment at will. As for the first, I do not understand the significance of caselaw in this context. If another court had decided that conduct like that Casas complains of was outrageous, would the Court decide this case differently? The implication is that “outrageousness” is what most courts say it is, but that is, of course, no principle at all. As for the second reason the Court gives for its decision, there is nothing new to the idea that an employer may be liable for tortious or illegal conduct in discharging an employee at will. The doctrine of employment at will is not such an absolute that it cannot yield to other legal doctrines. The mere fact, entirely unsurprising, that the new tort impinges on the doctrine of employment at will does not explain why the former should yield.
The truth of the matter is that Wornick’s conduct was not outrageous simply because most of the Members of this Court, Casas’ court of last resort, are not sufficiently offended by it. If they were, the result would be different. If Casas were permitted to present her case to a jury, it is not at all unlikely that she would prevail, not because her ease has more merit to it than this Court sees, but because jurors might well have different views about what is outrageous. Twelve employers would probably agree with this Court; twelve recently terminated employees might not. I have my own personal view of what is outrageous, but I do not believe that Casas should win or lose her ease based upon my own personal opinions. While I am constrained to acknowledge that Twyman is the law, I am not obliged to decide this case or any other on the basis of my personal views. To do so, in my view, substitutes the rule of man for our rule of law. With the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress, the Court embarks on what I predict will be an endless wandering over a sea of factual circumstances, meandering this way and that, blown about by bias and inclination, and guided by nothing steadier than the personal preferences of the helmsmen, who change with every watch.
Casas asserts no principled basis for holding that Wornick’s conduct was outrageous, and I can determine none. For this reason I conclude that she is not entitled to prevail upon her claim. Accordingly, I concur only in the judgment of the Court.
Justice ENOCH joins in this concurring opinion.