Connie Tanner and Marjorie Legg, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees v. Rite Aid of West Virginia, Inc., Defendant Below…

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed a jury verdict awarding Connie Tanner and Marjorie Legg $12,000 in compensatory damages and $18,000 in punitive damages to each Appellee against Rite Aid of West Virginia after store employees publicly accused the mother and daughter of shoplifting and detained and searched them before onlooking customers. Addressing a question of first impression, the court held that expert testimony is not required in every case to prove the causation and severity elements of intentional infliction of emotional distress; the trial court decides whether the jury can evaluate the claim, its causal connection to the defendant's conduct, and the damages from its own experience, and that determination is reviewed only for abuse of discretion. The court characterized contrary language in Courtney v. Courtney as dicta, declined to reach Rite Aid's duplicative-recovery argument because it was not preserved below, and held the damages awards were not excessive under the deferential 'monstrous, enormous' standard.