CASEY HARRINGTON AND RYAN HARRINGTON, MINORS, BY AND THROUGH THEIR FATHER AND NEXT FRIEND, PATRICK HARRINGTON, AND PATRICK HARRINGTON, INDIVIDUALLY, APPELLANTS,
v.
BELTRAN J. PAGES, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1983-11-16
No. 83-375
ANSTEAD, C.J., and HERSEY and DELL, JJ., concur.
440 So. 2d 521 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1983) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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Synopsis

The court affirmed the dismissal of a complaint by Patrick Harrington and his minor children against Dr. Beltran Pages, holding that claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress arising from a physician's sexual misconduct with the plaintiffs' spouse/parent cannot circumvent the statutory abolition of alienation of affection claims.


Holding

The court held that the complaint must be dismissed because: (1) the alleged outrageous conduct was directed at Lynn Harrington alone, not the plaintiffs, and she did not bring the claim; (2) the emotional distress resulted from the dissolution of the marriage, which is expressly barred by Florida's abolition of alienation of affection actions; and (3) sexual intercourse between two consenting adults, while condemnable, does not rise to the level of conduct so outrageous and extreme as to constitute intentional infliction of emotional distress under current community standards.


Headnotes

[1] A claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress requires the alleged outrageous conduct to be directed at the plaintiff, either directly or through a third perso…

[2] Spousal derivative claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress are precluded when the primary victim of the alleged outrageous conduct has not brought a claim…

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Key Quotes

“In all cases we have found in Florida recognizing the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress, the Plaintiff was the recipient of insult or abuse, or the message was clearly directed at the Plaintiff through a third person.”

Establishes the requirement that alleged outrageous conduct must be directed at the plaintiff claiming the tort.

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Facts & Procedural History

Dr. Beltran Pages allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct with Lynn Harrington, who was married to Patrick Harrington and mother to the minor plaintiff…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Affirmed. We specifically reject appellants’ claim that the legislature, by enacting section 458.329, Florida Statutes (1981), barring sexual misconduct by physicians, intended an exception to the statute barring claims for alienation of affection. We affirm the trial court’s order dismissing appellants’ complaint and do so for substantially the same reasons set out in the trial judge’s written order:

Accepting the viability of such a cause of action does not, however, give solace to the Plaintiffs in this case for three separate and distinct reasons, any one of which standing alone is sufficient to preclude the Complaint in this case from alleging a valid cause of action.

In the first place, the conduct alleged to be extreme and outrageous was directed toward and against the person of LYNN HARRINGTON only. In Habelow v. Travelers Insurance Company, 389 So. 2d 218 (Fla. 5th DCA, 1980), the court stated, at Page 220:

“In all cases we have found in Florida recognizing the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress, the Plaintiff was the recipient of insult or abuse, or the message was clearly directed at the Plaintiff through a third person. See Ford Motor Credit Company v. Sheehan, 373 So. 2d 956 (Fla. 1st DCA, 1979).”

But LYNN HARRINGTON who could have complained of the alleged outrageous conduct has not done so. Had she done so, Plaintiff PATRICK HARRINGTON at most would have had a spousal derivative claim. See Food Fair, Inc. v. Anderson, [382 So. 2d 150 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980)].

In the second place, the conduct of the Defendant alleged to be outrageous, and the extreme emotional distress which Plaintiffs alleged to have incurred as a result of that conduct, are the direct result of the deterioration and ultimate dissolution of the marriage. Thus, the Plaintiff’s Complaint, because of the relationship between LYNN HARRINGTON and the Plaintiff, PÁTRICK HARRINGTON, as spouse (and between LYNN HARRINGTON and the minor Plaintiffs as parent), essentially seeks to allege, under the guise of “intentional infliction of emotional distress”, a cause of action which has been expressly barred by Section 771.01, Florida Statutes (1981):

771.01 Certain tort actions abolished — The rights of action heretofore existing to recover sums of money as damage for the alienation of affections, criminal conversation, seduction or breach of contract to marry are hereby abolished.

Extreme emotional distress which results from dissolution of marriage or break up of the family relationship is necessarily barred by the cited statute.

Finally, the alleged conduct of the Defendant, although qualifying as sexual misconduct prohibited by Section 458.329, Florida Statutes (1981), does not, as a matter of law, arise to the level as described by the court in Food Fair, Inc. v. Anderson, supra, at Page 153:

“Liability has been found only 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. Generally, the case is one in which the recitation of the facts to an average member of the community would arouse his resentment against the actor, and lead him to exclaim, “outrageous!”

Defendant’s alleged conduct is not condoned and, indeed, justifies condemnation; but given current community standards, sexual intercourse between two consenting adults cannot be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.

ANSTEAD, C.J., and HERSEY and DELL, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Williams v. City OF Minneola, 575 So. 2d 683 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)
    …e relatives were not present during the acts and the defendant’s conduct was not directed at the relatives. See M.M. v. M.P.S., 556 So. 2d 1140 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), rev. den., 569 So. 2d 1279 (Fla.1990); Harrington By and Through Harrington v. Pages, 440 So. 2d 521 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983); Habelow v. Travelers Insurance Co., 389 So. 2d 218 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). Those opinions did not concern dead bodies or pictures of dead bodies and so did not call into operation the unique considerations which apply in such cases…
  • M.M. and M.M. v. M.P.S. and B.S., 556 So. 2d 1140 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
    …County Pub. Hosp. Bd., 466 So. 2d 427 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985) (mother of stillborn child may not recover for mental or emotional distress when she did not see child’s body and was not involved in events leading to body’s mutilation); Harrington v. Pages, 440 So. 2d 521 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983) (father and children may not recover when alleged extreme and outrageous conduct was di«rected only at spouse/mother). Appellants allege, however, that the disclosure of the treatment of their daughter caused their emotional dis…
  • McDOUGALD v. Jenson, 786 F.2d 1465 (11th Cir. 1986)
    …of affections, criminal conversation, seduction or breach of contract to marry.” Laws 1945, c. 23138, § 1, codified at Fla.Stat.Ann. § 771.01 (West 1964). This statute has been construed broadly by the Florida courts. See, e.g., Harrington v. Pages, 440 So. 2d 521 (Fla.App.1983); De la Portilla v. De la Portilla, 287 So. 2d 345 (Fla.App.1973), cert. denied, 295 So. 2d 304 (Fla.1974). One court recently stated that the statute expresses the public policy of the state “that domestic quarrels — who did what to w…

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