Elements of an IIED Claim

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED) is a common law tort designed to provide a remedy for severe emotional harm caused by egregious misconduct. In its landmark case, Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. McCarson, the Florida Supreme Court adopted the standard from the Restatement (Second) of Torts, requiring a plaintiff to prove four distinct elements.

Intentional or Reckless Conduct: The defendant must have acted with the intent to cause severe emotional distress or acted recklessly, meaning they knew such distress was substantially certain to result from their conduct.
Extreme and Outrageous Conduct: This is the most difficult element to prove. The conduct must be so shocking and offensive that it goes "beyond all possible bounds of decency" and is considered "atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."
Causation: The defendant's outrageous conduct must be the direct cause of the plaintiff's emotional distress.
Severe Emotional Distress: The resulting emotional harm must be severe, meaning it is of such intensity that "no reasonable person could be expected to endure it."

The "Extreme and Outrageous" Standard

This is the lynchpin of an IIED claim and where most cases fail. Whether conduct is outrageous is a question of law for the judge to decide initially. The standard is objective: the facts must be such that an average member of the community would exclaim, "Outrageous!"

The tort is not a remedy for mere insults, indignities, annoyances, or hurt feelings. Even conduct that is malicious or criminal may not necessarily rise to the level of "outrageous" for the purposes of an IIED claim.

Context is critical. Courts are more likely to find conduct outrageous when it involves an abuse of a position of power (e.g., employer over employee, landlord over tenant) or when the defendant knowingly preys on a plaintiff's particular vulnerability (such as a child, an elderly person, or someone with a known disability).

The "Severe Emotional Distress" Requirement

The final element requires that the emotional harm be genuinely severe and debilitating, not just temporary sadness, anger, or humiliation. While physical injury is not required to bring an IIED claim, the presence of physical manifestations of the distress—such as ulcers, stress-induced headaches, or diagnosed conditions like PTSD or severe depression—is powerful evidence of its severity.

IIED vs. NIED: The Impact Rule Exception

It is crucial to distinguish IIED from Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED). Florida's restrictive "Impact Rule" generally bars claims for NIED unless the plaintiff also suffered a physical impact or injury. IIED is a major exception to this rule, allowing recovery for purely emotional harm precisely because the defendant's conduct was intentional or reckless, not merely careless.

Defenses to an IIED Claim

Defendants have several powerful defenses against an IIED claim.

Challenging the Elements: The most common defense is to argue the conduct was not "outrageous" or the plaintiff's distress was not "severe."
Privilege: A defendant is not liable if they were simply insisting upon their legal rights in a permissible way, even if it caused distress (e.g., a landlord lawfully initiating an eviction). The litigation privilege provides absolute immunity for statements made during judicial proceedings.
Consent: If the plaintiff consented to the conduct, they cannot later claim it was tortious.
First Amendment: The U.S. Constitution protects speech on matters of public concern. Public figures generally cannot sue for IIED based on satire or offensive speech related to public debate, as established in cases like Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell.

Damages and Statute of Limitations

Damages

A successful plaintiff can recover both economic damages (e.g., medical bills, lost wages) and non-economic damages (e.g., mental anguish, humiliation). In rare cases of extreme misconduct, punitive damages may be awarded to punish the defendant, subject to the high standards and statutory caps of Fla. Stat. §§ 768.72-73.

Statute of Limitations

In Florida, the statute of limitations for intentional torts, including IIED, is four years from the date of the outrageous conduct. This was not affected by the 2023 tort reforms that shortened the deadline for negligence claims.