California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Lewellen v. Molina Healthcare, Inc., B250557 (Cal. App. 2015):
"'In order to meet the first requirement of the tort, the alleged conduct "'. . . must be so extreme as to exceed all bounds of that usually tolerated in a civilized community.'"'" (Dowds, supra, 152 Cal.App.4th at p. 533.) "Whether a defendant's conduct can reasonably be found to be outrageous is a question of law that must initially be determined by the court; if reasonable persons may differ, it is for the jury to determine whether the conduct was, in fact, outrageous." (Id. at p. 534.) As we have discussed above, Gergens's conduct toward plaintiff was surely unpleasant and inappropriate, but it was not "'"'so extreme as to exceed all bounds of that usually tolerated in a civilized community.'"'" (Id. at p. 533; see, e.g., Hughes v. Pair (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1035, 1051 (Pair) [liability "'"does not extend to mere insults, indignities, threats, annoyances, petty oppressions, or other trivialities"'"].)
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