Hendrix v. Phillips, A92A1820
| Decision Date | 03 February 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. A92A1820,A92A1820 |
| Citation | 428 S.E.2d 91,207 Ga.App. 394 |
| Parties | , 82 Ed. Law Rep. 259 HENDRIX v. PHILLIPS et al. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
L. Thomas Cain, Jr., for appellant.
Arnall, Golden & Gregory, Karen B. Bragman, Frank N. White, and Thompson & Sweeny, E. Victoria Sweeny, for appellees.
Plaintiff Vickie F. Hendrix is a former employee of the Gwinnett County School System Department of Transportation. She voluntarily resigned in June 1989. One year later, in June 1990, plaintiff filed a complaint against defendant Zachery Keith Phillips III, a co-worker, and Dr. Jack Staff, her supervisor, alleging she had been harmed by their intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Plaintiff's complaint against defendant Phillips is based upon a series of comments and acts she alleges he committed, including showing her a drawing he made depicting fecal matter moving through a colon; showing her a hole in the crotch of his pants and asking her, in the presence of co-workers, if she would like to staple the hole closed; a lewd gesture referring to sexual activity he supposed she engaged in with her husband on a vacation trip; a verbal confrontation in a working meeting at which he cursed the plaintiff; and a series of complaints he filed against her with supervisor Dr. Staff. Plaintiff's complaint against defendant Staff is based upon his treatment of her in his supervisory capacity, including repeated meetings with her to review complaints against her by co-workers and a meeting concerning a written job evaluation during which she alleges he threatened her with a poor evaluation but allowed a period of two weeks to improve her evaluation, after which he filed a written report in which he praised plaintiff for her abilities and gave her performance ratings which exceeded the ratings given her in previous evaluations made by other supervisors. Defendants moved for and were awarded summary judgment. Plaintiff appeals.
1. In Bridges v. Winn-Dixie Atlanta, 176 Ga.App. 227, 230(1), 335 S.E.2d 445 (1985), this court noted the four elements of the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress set forth in the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46, all four of which must be present in order for the claimant to recover: " '(1) The conduct must be intentional or reckless; (2) The conduct must be extreme and outrageous; (3) There must be a causal connection between the wrongful conduct and the emotional distress; (4) The emotional distress must be severe.' " Plaintiff argues the conduct she alleges defendants engaged in meets the requirement of being extreme and outrageous because it arose in the context of the employee-employer relationship. Coleman v. Housing Authority of Americus, 191 Ga.App. 166, 169, 381 S.E.2d 303 (1989). Relying upon our decision in Coleman, plaintiff argues the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to defendants.
In Coleman, the conduct complained of consisted of a pattern of explicit sexual harassment by plaintiff's supervisor through conversations, innuendo and body language. Because of the cumulative effect of the conduct which occurred in the employment setting, we ruled the evidence created an issue for jury determination concerning plaintiff's claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress against the defendant supervisor. In the case at hand, however, no pattern of sexual harassment was shown. Those isolated instances of alleged conduct which plaintiff claims were sexually offensive were simply instances of tasteless and rude social conduct which is not actionable. See Kornegay v. Mundy, 190 Ga.App. 433, 379 S.E.2d 14 (1989).
Regarding the instance in which defendant Phillips cursed the plaintiff in a business meeting, the record shows Phillips made a written apology and was formally reprimanded for his conduct by defendantStaff. These acts in mitigation of plaintiff's distress contraindicate the necessary element of intent to inflict emotional distress. See Crowe v. J.C. Penney, Inc., 177 Ga.App. 586, 588(1), 340 S.E.2d 192 (1986).
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