Alisa Bibbs v. Durham School Services, L.P.

Excerpt

This extraordinary appeal arises from a school bus crash in November 2016, which resulted in the tragic death of six children attending Woodmore Elementary School in Chattanooga. Woodmore's school secretary sued the employer of the bus driver for, inter alia, reckless infliction of emotional distress ("RIED"). The school secretary alleged that the employer's failure to address the bus driver's dangerous driving despite receiving numerous warnings disregarded the children's safety, constituted reckless and outrageous conduct, and caused her serious mental injuries. The trial court denied the employer's motion to dismiss the claim, finding that the school secretary had sufficiently alleged outrageous conduct on the part of the employer and that she had met all other pleading requirements to sustain her RIED claim. Employer appeals. Although we agree with the trial court that the school secretary sufficiently alleged conduct so outrageous by the employer that it cannot be tolerated by civilized society, we hold that the secretary is not a person who falls within the reasonably foreseeable scope of the particular substantial and unjustifiable risk consciously disregarded by the employer and, therefore, cannot recover under a reckless infliction of emotional distress claim. Consequently, we reverse the trial court's finding on this latter issue and remand the case for dismissal of the action against employer.