M.M. v. M.P.S., 89-265
Citation | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 2874,556 So.2d 1140 |
Decision Date | 12 December 1989 |
Docket Number | No. 89-265,89-265 |
Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 2874 M.M. and M.M., Appellants, v. M.P.S. and B.S., Appellees. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Stinson, Lyons, Gerlin & Bustamante and P. Campbell Ford, Miami, for appellants.
Albert G. Caruana and Lawrence S. Gordon, Miami, for appellees.
Before BASKIN, FERGUSON and COPE, JJ.
Appellants challenge an order dismissing their complaint with prejudice. Appellants filed an action against appellees to recover damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy. The complaint alleged that appellants suffered severe emotional distress when M.P.S. told them that he had sexually abused their daughter and that his wife had supplied her with illegal drugs from the time she was eight years old, throughout her childhood, until she was 23 years old. 1 Appellants sought recovery solely for their own distress; 2 but the trial court dismissed their complaint for failure to state a cause of action.
In this appeal, appellants contend that their presence during the commission of the underlying offenses against their daughter was not a prerequisite to their stating a cause of action because they were harmed by the revelation of the acts; they assert that it was the disclosure by M.P.S. of what had been done to their daughter that caused their emotional distress. Thus, they contend, their complaint was improperly dismissed. Concluding that Florida law provides no cause of action under these circumstances, we affirm.
Section 46(1) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965), adopted by the Florida Supreme Court in Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. McCarson, 467 So.2d 277 (Fla.1985), imposes liability for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress upon one who by extreme or outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another. Additionally, "the actor is subject to liability if he intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to a member of such person's immediate family who is present at the time." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46(2)(a) (1965) (emphasis supplied). In Habelow v. Travelers Ins. Co., 389 So.2d 218 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980), the wife's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress was dismissed because the abuse was directed at her husband; the court stated that "[i]n all cases we have found in Florida recognizing the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress, the plaintiff was the recipient of the insult or abuse." Habelow, 389 So.2d at 220.
The complaint before us does not meet the criteria set forth in Habelow. Appellants were not present when the alleged mistreatment of their daughter took place and may not claim emotional distress for her injurious or offensive treatment. See King v. Eastern Airlines, Inc., 536 So.2d 1023 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987), review granted, No. 73,395 (Fla. Mar. 9, 1989) ( ); Crenshaw v. Sarasota County Pub. Hosp. Bd., 466 So.2d 427 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985) ( ); Harrington v. Pages, 440 So.2d 521 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983) ( ).
Appellants allege, however, that the disclosure of the treatment of their daughter caused their emotional distress. After reviewing the law, we are unable to conclude that learning the awful truth from M.P.S. afforded appellants grounds for recovery for their own distress.
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