Harris v. Jones,

281 Md. 560, 380 A.2d 611 (1977)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Harris (P) worked at a General Motors (D1) plant. P stuttered his whole life and was very self-conscious about it. P charged that Jones (D), a supervisor, maliciously and cruelly mimicked P and that D1 had ratified that conduct. D did his acts over 30 times in a four-month period. This caused P to suffer from acute nervousness and resulted in an increase in stuttering. P asked D for a transfer to another department, but that request was refused because D had labeled P as a troublemaker. P sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress. At trial, P admitted that many things made him nervous including bosses and that other employees had mimicked his stuttering and that he had only been to the doctor once during the entire incident. A jury found for P and awarded damages. The verdict was reversed by the Court of Special Appeals because there was no causal connection between the wrongful conduct and the emotional distress and the emotional distress was not severe. P appealed.