Connolly v. Procter & Gamble Distributing Co.

37 Pa. D. & C.3d 231, 1985 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 267
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County
DecidedFebruary 25, 1985
Docketno. 673-C of 1982
StatusPublished

This text of 37 Pa. D. & C.3d 231 (Connolly v. Procter & Gamble Distributing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Connolly v. Procter & Gamble Distributing Co., 37 Pa. D. & C.3d 231, 1985 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 267 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1985).

Opinion

PODCASY, J.,

On February 23, 1982, plaintiff commenced this action in trespass and assumpsit by obtaining issuance of a summons against The Procter & Gamble Distributing Company, his former employer, and against both James Arnold and Ernest C. Addy, who had been two of plaintiffs supervisors during his period of employment with Procter & Gamble.

In his complaint, filed approximately two years after commencement of suit, plaintiff avers that he had performed all of his duties as a sales representative of Procter & Gamble in an able, workmanlike, and generally superior manner throughout his entire period of over 18 and one-half years employment leading up to his discharge on July 23, 1980, at which time he was “summarily and arbitrarily” dismissed upon oral notice from defendant Addy. He avers that no written notice of termination was ever delivered to him, and that his termination was “without good reason or just cause,” thereby constituting a breach of Procter & Gamble’s “express and/or implied contract of employment” with him.

[233]*233Plaintiff goes on to allege that, as a result of his discharge, he sustained a loss of income, for which he seeks recovery in the first count of his complaint.

Plaintiff then sets forth a second count in which he avers that defendants “intentionally inflicted upon plaintiff emotional distress by reason of their continuous and outrageous course of conduct” against him beginning on or about March 6, 1980 and continuing until his discharge on July 23, 1980.

In paragraph 16 of his complaint, plaintiff avers that the “outrageous course of conduct” on the part of defendants included the making of personally abusive and profane comments to plaintiff in the presence and hearing of others regarding plaintiffs work performance, which comments were false, misleading, and intended to cause plaintiff emotional distress; the making of such statements regarding plaintiff in the presence of customers and competing salesmen; the engaging in repeated and unjustified criticisms of plaintiffs capacity as a sales representative, designed to create feelings of inadequacy on his part; and the subjecting of plaintiff to personal and secretive surveillance. In addition, plaintiff avers, in the same paragraph, that defendants required him to perform multiple irrelevant and picayune tasks not required of other sales representatives similarly situated and never previously required of him, advised plaintiff that he was “getting stale,” that he. was “not enthusiastic” and that he should seek other employment, and engaged in a comprehensive program of harrassing plaintiff by secret surveillance, excessive and frequent direct supervision, imposition of a probationary period, verbal and written criticisms, and by singling him out for abuse, ridicule, and discipline in a manner not accorded other employees. Finally, plaintiff avers that the “outrageous course of con[234]*234duct” consisted of subjecting him almost daily to uniformly negative evaluations which were intended to falsely represent his performance, abilities, and dedication, and of conspiring to. disparage his performance and abilities.

Plaintiff alleges that this course of conduct on the part of defendants was intentional, and that it caused him severe emotional, mental and physical distress, thus impairing his normal enjoyment of life and his ability to perform his responsibilities as a father, homemaker, and wage earner. He seeks both compensatory and punitive damages for the harm allegedly done to him.

Plaintiffs third and final cause of action is directed solely against the individual defendants, Arnold and Addy, whereas the'first two counts are directed primarily against the corporate defendant, Procter & Gamble. In his third count, plaintiff accuses Arnold and Addy of intentionally interfering with his contract of employment with Procter & Gamble, by submitting false, inflammatory, and derogatory reports about his work performance, and by making unreasonable demands that he assume responsibilities not normally and usually his or those of others similarly situated.

On June 1, 1984, preliminary objections were filed on behalf of defendants which are designated as being “by way of motion to dismiss the second and third causes of action of plaintiffs complaint.”

Pa. R.C.P. 1017, which deals with pleadings allowed in an action in assumpsit, and which also applies to actions in trespass by virtue of R.C.P. 104!, limits preliminary objections to certain specific matters, and does not specifically refer to a “motion to dismiss.” The rule does, however, permit interposition of a demurrer as a preliminary objection, and if we are to address defendants’ prelimi[235]*235nary objections of June 1, 1984 at all, we can address them only as a demurrer.

The position taken by defendants in their preliminary objections of June 1, 1984, is that plaintiff has failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted in his counts dealing with intentional infliction of emotional distress by all three defendants and intentional interference with plaintiffs employment contract by the two individual defendants.

It is established law in Pennsylvania that a demurrer admits every well-pleaded material fact set forth in the pleading to which it' is addressed, as well as all inferences reasonably deducile therefrom, that conclusions of law are not admitted by a demurrer, that if a demurrer is to be sustained it is essential that plaintiffs complaint indicate on its face that his claim cannot be satisfied and that the law will not permit recovery, and that any doubt must be resolved in favor of overruling the Demurrer. Gekas v. Shapp, 469 Pa. 1, 364 A.2d 691 (1976).

Subsection (1) of §46 of Restatement (Second) of Torts, dealing with an individual’s interest in freedom from emotional distress, provides as follows:

“One who by extreme and outrageous conduct in-, tentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another is subject to liability for such emotional distress, and if bodily harm to the other results from it, for such bodily .harm.”

In commenting on this subsection, the authors of the restatement stress that liability has been found to exist only in cases where the conduct has been so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. They stress that the liability clearly does not extend to mere insults, indignities, annoyances, petty oppressions, or other [236]*236trivialities, and that a major outrage is essential to the tort. The authors then go on to state that conduct which would otherwise be extreme and outrageous may be privileged under some circumstances, and that an actor is never liable where he has done no more than to insist upon his legal rights in a permissible way, even though he is well aware that such insistence is certain to cause emotional distress.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

PAPIEVES Et Ux. v. Kelly
263 A.2d 118 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1970)
Niederman v. Brodsky
261 A.2d 84 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1970)
Chuy v. Philadelphia Eagles Football Club
431 F. Supp. 254 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1977)
Cautilli v. GAF Corp.
531 F. Supp. 71 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1982)
Gekas v. Shapp
364 A.2d 691 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
37 Pa. D. & C.3d 231, 1985 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/connolly-v-procter-gamble-distributing-co-pactcomplluzern-1985.