ESTATE OF MARIE MORTON, APPELLANT,
v.
UNITED STATES FIDELITY & GUARANTY COMPANY, A FOREIGN CORPORATION, AND EDWARD GRANT, AS AGENT AND EMPLOYEE OF UNITED STATES FIDELITY & GUARANTY COMPANY, AND INDIVIDUALLY, APPELLEES
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The court held that the trial court erred in dismissing the counts with prejudice, and the appellant should be given the opportunity to amend the complaint.
The appellant's complaint included counts for intentional infliction of emotional distress and tort of outrage. The parties agreed these should consti…
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BARKETT, Judge.
This appeal results from the dismissal with prejudice of two counts of a complaint; count I entitled “intentional inflic tion of emotional distress,” and count IV entitled “tort of outrage.”
The parties agree that the separate counts should constitute but one cause of action, outrageous conduct causing severe emotional distress, and therefore one count should be dismissed. The parties further agree that the trial court erred in dismissing these counts with prejudice thereby failing to give the appellant the right to amend. Appellant, however, contends that the allegations in either count I or count IV sufficiently state a cause of action.
This court has recognized that a cause of action can exist for outrageous conduct causing severe emotional distress arising from an insurer’s failure to pay benefits. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. McCarson, 429 So. 2d 1287 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). See also Dominguez v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, 438 So. 2d 58 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). It is clear that the appellant can amend to properly state such a cause of action in this case in light of the allegations of both count I and count IV as well as the remaining counts and the documents attached to the complaint.
Accordingly, the appellant should be given the opportunity to combine and clarify the allegations of the complaint as they relate to this cause of action by way of amendment. We therefore reverse and remand with directions to the trial court to proceed in accordance with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
ANSTEAD, C.J., and GLICKSTEIN, J„ concur.
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Dependable Life Ins. Co. v. Harris, 510 So. 2d 985 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987)…nc. v. Morgan, 338 So. 2d 89 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Smith v. Telophase Nat'l Cremation Soc'y, Inc., 471 So. 2d 163 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). . Lay v. Roux Laboratories, Inc., 379 So. 2d 451 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Estate of Morton v. U.S. Fidelity & Guar. Co., 460 So. 2d 526 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). . See Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. McCarson, 467 So. 2d 277 (Fla.1985); Kirkpatrick v. Zitz, 401 So. 2d 850 (Fla. 1st DCA), dismissed, 411 So. 2d 385 (Fla.1981). . e. The extreme and outrageous character of the conduct may ar…
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Valdes v. GAB Robins N. Am., Inc., 924 So. 2d 862 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006)…See Baker v. Florida Nat’l Bank, 559 So. 2d 284, 287 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990)(recog-nizing that the “tort of outrageous conduct” and the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress are the same claim); Estate of Morton v. U.S. Fid. & Guar. Co., 460 So. 2d 526, 527 (Fla. 4th DCA [*866] 1984)(noting that a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress and for the “tort of outrage ... should constitute but one cause of action”). While the anxiety and stress of being charged by the Division of Insur…
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Morton v. United States Fid. & Guar. Ins. Co., 525 So. 2d 470 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988)…of emotional distress were sufficient to state a cause of action. Accordingly, we reverse the order which dismissed this count with prejudice and the final judgment entered thereon. See Estate of Morton v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, 460 So. 2d 526 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Dominguez v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, 438 So. 2d 58 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), approved 467 So. 2d 281 (Fla.1985); Dependable Life Insurance Company v. Harris, 510 So. 2d 985 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987). Secondl…
Authorities Cited
- Dominguez v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc'y OF the United States, 438 So. 2d 58 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)
- Allied Gen., Inc. v. Helliwell, 429 So. 2d 1287 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)