JOHN W. McCLARTY, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which HERSCHEL P. FRANKS, P.J., and D. MICHAEL SWINEY, J., joined.
Plaintiff brought claims of malicious prosecution, outrageous conduct, civil conspiracy, punitive damages, and respondeat superior against defendants for filing a lawsuit against him, on behalf of their clients. The trial court dismissed all the claims. We affirm.
The appellant, Jack Lane ("Lane"), allegedly witnessed certain acts of the appellees, Ann (Russell) Gerber and Judy Sloan ("Clients"), and signed a statement in April 2004, describing the alleged acts for the purpose of assisting Client Gerber's then husband in a divorce action.
As a named defendant, Lane was alleged to have disseminated false statements about the Clients, who, at that time, were teachers in the Blount County School System. Lane's alleged false statements were that the Clients engaged, inter alia, in various public sexual improprieties, public drunkenness, public nudity, and allegations accusing one of the Clients of statutory rape of a former student. Clients signed the verified complaint under oath.
After Lane filed a motion to dismiss the action against him, Appellees tendered an order of voluntary nonsuit regarding Lane. An order of dismissal with prejudice was entered by the trial court on March 23, 2007.
The complaint in the instant cause was initiated on March 24, 2008, primarily alleging malicious prosecution, outrageous conduct, and civil conspiracy. The gravamen of Lane's complaint, in essence, is that Attorney Becker deposed Lane and treated him as a hostile witness, suit was then filed against Lane for participating in the defamation of Clients, but shortly thereafter Appellees dismissed the suit against Lane with prejudice.
A hearing was held on June 19, 2008, upon a Rule 12.02(6) motion to dismiss filed by Attorney Becker and Firm. Clients did not have their motions to dismiss heard at that time. On the morning of the hearing, Lane filed a motion to strike. Counsel for Lane argued orally as follows:
Counsel for Attorney Becker and Firm responded that one "cannot proceed in a malicious prosecution case under the authority of the Tennessee Supreme Court without a favorable termination of the underlying case on merits."
At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court announced the dismissal of the case from the bench. However, no order was entered at that time. Subsequent to the hearing, on June 26, 2008, Attorney Becker's counsel filed a second amended motion to dismiss in order to cure any possible objection based on specificity of grounds. Another hearing was held on July 30, 2008, at which time the trial court entered an order denying Lane's motions to strike and granting the motions to dismiss of all the Appellees as follows:
Lane filed a timely appeal.
The issues raised on appeal as restated by us are as follows:
The determination of whether the trial court has erred in ruling on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted is purely a question of law. Carvell v. Bottoms, 900 S.W.2d 23, 26 (Tenn.1995). A Rule 12.02(6) motion to dismiss only seeks to determine whether the pleadings state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Such a motion challenges the legal sufficiency of the complaint, not the strength of the plaintiff's proof, and, therefore, matters outside the pleadings should not be considered in deciding whether to grant the motion. See Bell ex rel. Snyder v. Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen & Ginsburg, P.A., 986 S.W.2d 550, 554 (Tenn. 1999). In reviewing a motion to dismiss, the appellate court must construe the complaint liberally, presuming all factual allegations to be true and giving the plaintiff the benefit of all reasonable inferences. See Pursell v. First Am. Nat'l Bank, 937 S.W.2d 838, 840 (Tenn. 1996). It is well-settled that a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his or her claim that would warrant relief. See Doe v. Sundquist, 2 S.W.3d 919, 922 (Tenn.1999).
To prevail in a claim for malicious prosecution, "[a] plaintiff must show (a) that a prior lawsuit or judicial proceeding was brought against the plaintiff without probable cause, (b) that the prior lawsuit or judicial proceeding was brought against the plaintiff with malice, and (c) that the prior lawsuit or judicial proceeding terminated in the plaintiff's favor." Parrish v. Marquis, 172 S.W.3d 526, 530 (Tenn.2005) (citing Christian v. Lapidus, 833 S.W.2d 71, 73 (Tenn.1992)).
Lane claims malicious prosecution because of the filing of the underlying defamation action against him. He asserts the defamation claim was filed with malice, with an improper purpose, without probable cause, and that it was "finally determined in the plaintiff's favor." He notes that within two months of the filing of the underlying case against him, Appellees tendered an order of voluntary dismissal to the clerk.
Appellees rely on the holding in Parrish v. Marquis, 172 S.W.3d 526 (Tenn.2005), for the proposition that a dismissal of the underlying action on procedural grounds that does not reflect on the merits of the underlying action is not a favorable termination. In Parrish, the Tennessee Supreme Court reconsidered its prior finding in Christian v. Lapidus, 833 S.W.2d 71 (Tenn.1992), and held:
Id. at 532. The instant case was dismissed pursuant to Rule 41.01; it was a voluntary dismissal on procedural grounds and the order did not "reflect on the merits" of the underlying defamation case.
Lane relies on Christian, contending that Christian is controlling despite the fact that the Parrish court clearly requires that abandonment of the underlying case is not now sufficient to establish favorable termination for purposes of malicious prosecution.
2009 WL 1507670, at *5.
To define "favorable termination," the Tennessee Supreme Court in Parrish relied on an opinion from the Supreme Court of Vermont:
Parrish, 172 S.W.3d at 531 (quoting Siliski v. Allstate Ins. Co., 174 Vt. 200, 811 A.2d 148, 151-52 (2002) (citations omitted)). See also Sewell v. Par Cable, Inc., 1988 WL 112915, at *3 (Tenn.Ct.App. M.S., Oct. 26, 1988) (holding that "[f]or the purposes of a malicious prosecution action, a favorable termination must be one indicating that the accused is innocent. . . . A disposition that does not indicate the plaintiff's innocence is not considered a favorable termination . . . .") (citations omitted).
The order of voluntary dismissal in the underlying action clearly does not reflect on the merits of the underlying case. The order is procedural in nature and does not refer to the elements of defamation, outrageous conduct, and civil conspiracy, or whether there was proof to support the claims or no proof to support the claims. The merits of the claims were never considered by the trial court in the underlying case. Lane has not established a favorable termination for purposes of the malicious prosecution claim. Because an essential element of the claim was negated, the trial court's dismissal of the malicious prosecution claim is affirmed.
Under Tennessee law, there are three elements of a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress:
Bain v. Wells, 936 S.W.2d 618, 622 (Tenn. 1997). In Bain, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that it is not an easy burden to meet the essential elements of outrageous conduct and stated that it "has adopted and applied the high threshold standard
Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 46, comment d (1965), states in pertinent part:
Bain, 936 S.W.2d at 623.
Outrageous conduct does not include "mere insults, indignities, threats, annoyances, petty oppression or other trivialities." Levy v. Franks, 159 S.W.3d 66, 83 (Tenn.Ct.App.2004); Arnett v. Domino's Pizza I, LLC, 124 S.W.3d 529, 539 (Tenn.Ct.App.2003) (quoting Bain, 936 S.W.2d at 622). A plaintiff seeking damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress must meet an "exacting standard." Miller v. Willbanks, 8 S.W.3d 607, 614 (Tenn.1999). "Recovery for intentional infliction of emotional distress is limited to mental injury which is so severe that no reasonable person would be expected to endure it." Arnett, 124 S.W.3d at 540.
It is for the trial court to determine, in the first instance, whether a defendant's conduct may reasonably be regarded as so extreme and outrageous as to permit recovery. Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 46, comment h. Thus, the trial court may reasonably dismiss this legal theory as a matter of law.
Even though the taking of the deposition and the filing of the lawsuit against him may have caused some level of emotional distress to Lane, the conduct did not rise to the level of "outrageous conduct"; the conduct must be atrocious. Therefore, Lane's complaint failed to state a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress as a matter of law. The trial court's dismissal of the outrageous conduct claim is affirmed.
"An actionable civil conspiracy is a combination of two or more persons who, each having the intent and knowledge of the other's intent, accomplish by concert an unlawful purpose, or accomplish a lawful purpose by unlawful means, which results in damage to the plaintiff." Trau-Med of Am., Inc. v. Allstate Ins. Co., 71 S.W.3d 691, 703 (Tenn.2002). Conspiracy claims must be pled with some degree of specificity. McGee v. Best, 106 S.W.3d 48, 64 (Tenn.Ct.App.2002). Conclusory allegations unsupported by material facts will not be sufficient to state such a claim. Kincaid v. SouthTrust Bank, 221 S.W.3d 32, 38 (Tenn.Ct.App.2006).
A claim for civil conspiracy "requires an underlying predicate tort allegedly committed pursuant to the conspiracy." Watson's Carpet & Floor Coverings, Inc. v. McCormick, 247 S.W.3d 169, 180 (Tenn.Ct.App.2007). Conspiracy, standing alone, is not actionable where the underlying tort is not actionable. Id. at 179-80.
Lane's legal theory is based only on the taking of a deposition and the filing of a verified complaint. The underlying torts
A court may award punitive damages only if it finds that a defendant has acted either intentionally, fraudulently, maliciously, or recklessly. Hodges v. S.C. Toof & Co., 833 S.W.2d 896, 901 (Tenn. 1992). A person acts intentionally so as to support an award of punitive damages when it is the person's conscious objective or desire to engage in conduct or cause the result. Id. A person acts fraudulently when he or she intentionally misrepresents an existing, material fact or produces a false impression, in order to mislead another or to obtain undue advantage, and that others are injured because of reasonable reliance upon that representation. Id. A person acts maliciously when he or she is motivated by ill-will, hatred, or personal spite. Id. A person acts recklessly so as to support an award of punitive damages when the person is aware of, but consciously disregards, substantial and unjustifiable risk of such a nature that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances. Id. Punitive damages may be awarded only in cases involving the "most egregious of wrongs." Id. The Supreme Court noted that "by thus restricting the availability of punitive damages, we seek to avoid dulling the potentially keen edge of the doctrine as an effective deterrent of truly reprehensible conduct." Id.
Lane's conclusory allegations that Attorney Becker acted intentionally and recklessly in filing a verified complaint for defamation against him does not change the fact that only two specific acts were alleged, neither of which are egregious or reprehensible. Further, Lane's conclusory allegation that Appellees' goal was to "begin a campaign of unlawful harassment and intimidation" does not make a factual statement of a specific act that could support this legal theory. Thus, Lane failed to state a cause of action that would entitle recovery of punitive damages.
While Appellees agree that any act or omission on the part of Becker, as an attorney, by way of professional negligence or otherwise actionable claim, would result in the derivative liability of his law firm, Lane has failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted as to Attorney Becker. As a result, there is no basis for alleging the derivative or vicarious liability of his law firm.
Lane argues that the trial court should have allowed him to amend his amended complaint to make a more definite statement instead of dismissing his claims. Appellees counter that Lane had ample opportunity, in the face of a Rule 12 motion to move to amend his pleadings, rather than waiting until after the trial court dismissed the amended complaint.
By waiting until the case is on appeal to assert that the trial court should have allowed him to amend his complaint, rather than dismiss his complaint, Lane has waived this issue. A party waives an issue when it raises it for the first time on appeal. Campbell County Bd. of Educ. v. Brownlee-Kesterson, Inc., 677 S.W.2d 457 (Tenn.Ct.App.1984). We note that even if Lane filed a motion to amend to make a more definite statement, he still could not
Lane also procedurally challenges the trial court's rulings on the motions to dismiss. He contends that the trial court abused its discretion in considering the second amended motion to dismiss. In response, Appellees assert that at the time of the hearing on the second amended motion to dismiss, the trial court's prior ruling of dismissal, which had not been reduced to an order entered on the minutes of the court, was interlocutory. As a result, Appellees contend that Rule 54.02 makes the court's first ruling subject to revision at the time of the second hearing.
Rule 54.02 provides that a trial judge may revise his order any time up until the time there is entry of a final judgment:
(Emphasis added). Thus, the trial court had the power to amend its decision at any time prior to the entry of a final order in this matter. We note that the only revision to the initial ruling was that the court granted the motion to dismiss on the second amended motion to dismiss rather than the first amended motion to dismiss. We find no abuse of discretion in the actions of the trial court.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. Costs are assessed against the Appellant, Jack Lane. The case is remanded, pursuant to applicable law, for enforcement of the trial court's judgment and for collection of costs assessed below.
