Answer: The intentional infliction of emotional distress has four elements
(1) The defendant must act intentionally or recklessly.
(2) The defendant's conduct must be extreme and outrageous:
(3) The defendants act is the cause of the distress
(4) Plaintiff suffers severe emotional distress as a result of defendant's conduct.
Explanation:
Intentional or reckless act: It is not necessary that an act be intentionally offensive. A reckless disregard for the likelihood of causing emotional distress is sufficient.
Extreme and outrageous conduct:
The conduct must be horrible and beyond the standards of civilized decency or utterly intolerable in a civilized society. Whether the conduct is illegal does not determine whether it meets this standard.
Cause of the distress: The actions of the defendant must have actually caused the plaintiff's emotional distress beyond the bounds of decency.
Plaintiff suffers severe emotional distress as a result of defendant's conduct: This standard is quantified by the intensity, duration, and any physical manifestations of the distress.