Strano v. Azzinaro

188 Conn.App. 183

204 A.3d 705

John STRANO et al.

v.Darwyn AZZINARO et al.

AC 40752

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued October 17, 2018

Officially released March 5, 2019

John R. Williams, New Haven, for the appellants (plaintiffs).

Stephen P. Brown, with whom, on the brief, was Nicole R. Cuglietto, Stamford, for the appellees (defendants).

Sheldon, Elgo and Beach, Js.

BEACH, J.

The plaintiffs, John Strano and Rider Strano, appeal from the judgment of the trial court rendered after its decision striking their claims sounding in intentional infliction of emotional distress, which claims were brought against the defendants, Darwyn Azzinaro, in his official capacity as Essex Boy Scouts Troop 12 Committee Chairman, and the Boy Scouts of America Corporation. The plaintiffs claim that their revised complaint alleged facts sufficient to support the conclusion that the defendants engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct toward them. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.¹

The following facts and procedural history are pertinent to our decision. The original complaint was brought by John Strano on his own behalf and as the father and next friend of his minor son. The plaintiffs alleged, in relevant part, that the minor plaintiff, a scout in the Essex Boy Scouts Troop 12, had been bullied by a fellow scout. After John Strano requested that Azzinaro and other adult troop leaders intervene to stop the bullying and John Strano attended troop meetings to monitor his son's treatment, Azzinaro sent John Strano a letter notifying him that the minor plaintiff was no longer permitted to attend troop meetings or events, because John Strano's presence at troop meetings disrupted the group's functioning.²

The defendants filed a motion to strike the complaint on the ground that the plaintiffs failed to allege facts sufficient to establish that the defendants had engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct. The court granted the motion to strike, concluding that no reasonable fact finder could find that the defendants' conduct was extreme and outrageous.

The plaintiffs filed a revised complaint, in which they pleaded additional facts in support of their claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress. The revised complaint added that the minor plaintiff had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which diagnosis qualified him for an Individual Education Plan pursuant to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 et seq., and that the defendants were aware that the minor plaintiff required educational accommodations. The revised complaint also described several instances in which a fellow scout had bullied the minor plaintiff, as well as remedial actions that the alleged bully's parents and the defendants had taken in response to the bullying.

The defendants filed a motion to strike the plaintiffs' revised complaint on the ground that it, like the original complaint, failed to plead facts sufficient to allege that the defendants had engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct toward them. The court granted the defendants' motion. The plaintiffs did not file a new pleading within the time allotted in Practice Book § 10-44. The defendants filed a motion for judgment, which the court granted. This appeal followed.

The plaintiffs claim that the court erroneously determined that no reasonable fact finder could find that the defendants' alleged conduct had been extreme and outrageous and, therefore, erred in striking their revised complaint. We disagree.

"The standard of review for granting a motion to strike is well settled. In an appeal from a judgment following the granting of a motion to strike, we must take as true the facts alleged in the plaintiff's complaint and must construe the complaint in the manner most favorable to sustaining its legal sufficiency.... A motion to strike admits all facts well pleaded.... A determination regarding the legal sufficiency of a claim is, therefore, a conclusion of law, not a finding of fact. Accordingly, our review is plenary.... If facts provable in the complaint would support a cause of action, the motion to strike must be denied.... Moreover, we note that [w]hat is necessarily implied [in an allegation] need not be expressly alleged." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Bell v. Board of Education , 55 Conn. App. 400, 404, 739 A.2d 321 (1999).

To prevail on a claim sounding in intentional infliction of emotional distress, a plaintiff must prove the following four elements: "(1) that the actor intended to inflict emotional distress; or that he knew or should have known that emotional distress was a likely result of his conduct; (2) that the conduct was extreme and outrageous; (3) that the defendant's conduct was the cause of the plaintiff's distress; and (4) that the emotional distress sustained by the plaintiff was severe." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 409, 739 A.2d 321, citing, inter alia, 1 Restatement (Second), Torts § 46 (1965). "In assessing a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, the court performs a gatekeeper function. In this capacity, the role of the court is to determine whether the allegations of a complaint ... set forth behaviors that a reasonable fact finder could find to be extreme or outrageous. In exercising this responsibility the court is not [fact-finding], but rather it is making an assessment whether, as a matter of law, the alleged behavior fits the criteria required to establish a claim premised on intentional infliction of emotional distress." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Historic District Commission v. Sciame , 140 Conn. App. 209, 218, 58 A.3d 354 (2013).

"Liability for intentional infliction of emotional distress requires conduct exceeding all bounds usually tolerated by decent society, of a nature which is especially calculated to cause, and does cause, mental distress of a very serious kind." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Bell v. Board of Education , supra, 55 Conn. App. at 409, 739 A.2d 321. "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!" (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Appleton v. Board of Education , 254 Conn. 205, 211, 757 A.2d 1059 (2000), quoting 1 Restatement (Second), supra, § 46, comment (d).

"[E]ven if emotional harm is inflicted for no purpose other than to cause such harm, some degree of emotional harm must be expected in social interaction and tolerated without legal recourse. Under the ‘extreme and outrageous’ requirement, an actor is liable only if the conduct goes beyond the bounds of human decency such that it would be regarded as intolerable in a civilized community. Ordinary insults and indignities are not enough for liability to be imposed, even if the actor desires to cause emotional harm." 2 Restatement (Third), Torts § 46, comment (d), pp. 138–39 (2012).

In Bell v. Board of Education , supra, 55 Conn. App. at 400, 739 A.2d 321, the parents of several children alleged that the principal of their elementary school "imposed on the children a teaching method ... [which emphasized] social skills at the expense of discipline and academics... [and, consequently,] the defendants encouraged, created and tolerated an atmosphere of chaos, disruptiveness and violence at the school so that the children were exposed on a daily basis to so much physical and verbal violence that it became a place of fear." Id., at 403, 739 A.2d 321. Emphasizing that the "place of fear" lasted for two years, this court concluded that the allegations were sufficient to state a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Id., at 411, 739 A.2d 321.

In Appleton v. Board of Education , supra, 254 Conn. at 205, 757 A.2d 1059, and Dollard v. Board of Education , 63 Conn. App. 550, 777 A.2d 714 (2001), on the other hand, offensive and insulting behavior was alleged but the allegations were not found sufficient to support a conclusion of intentional infliction of emotional distress. In Appleton ,³ the plaintiff teacher was allegedly insulted in front of her colleagues. The defendants allegedly questioned her vision and her ability to read, her daughter was told that the plaintiff had been "acting differently" and should take a few days off, she was subjected to two psychiatric examinations, and police were called to escort her from work. Appleton v. Board of Education , supra, at 211, 757 A.2d 1059. Although the events "may very well have been distressing and hurtful to the plaintiff," they were held not to constitute "extreme and outrageous" conduct. Id.

In Dollard v. Board of Education , supra, 63 Conn. App. at 550, 777 A.2d 714, the complaint alleged that the plaintiff school psychologist had been subjected to a concerted plan to compel her to resign from her position and to make her distraught. Allegedly, she was transferred against her wishes and her replacement was secretly hired. Id., at 552–53, 777 A.2d 714. She was publicly admonished for chewing gum, being habitually late and disorganized and not using time well, and she was unnecessarily placed under the close supervision of a friend of a defendant. Id., at 553, 777 A.2d 714. This court deemed these allegations insufficient to establish extreme and outrageous conduct. Id., at 555, 777 A.2d 714.

I

We first apply the foregoing principles to the allegations specifically regarding John Strano. The plaintiffs alleged that John Strano asked the defendants to intervene to protect the minor plaintiff from bullying. Subsequently, Azzinaro sent a letter to John Strano expelling the minor plaintiff from the troop. Azzinaro allegedly stated that John Strano's presence "at troop meetings [was] a major disruption to the other scouts, scout parents, Rider and leaders of the troop." The plaintiffs alleged that this statement was false and that the defendants punished the minor plaintiff "for...