TORTS - INJURIES FOLLOWING MENTAL DISTURBANCE - COLLECTION LETTERS

To collect a lawful debt of $61.80, defendant collecting agent wrote plaintiff three letters threatening to sue and to report plaintiff\u27s poor pay record to the members of defendant association if payment was not promptly made. Plaintiff alleged that he was just recovering from a serious illness and that the defendant was aware of the plaintiff\u27s weakened condition; that the defendant sent the letters intending to cause the plaintiff mental and physical injury, for the purpose of collecting the bill, and that the plaintiff did suffer a relapse as well as mental agony. The trial court sustained the defendant\u27s demurrer. Held, reversed with direction to enter an order overruling the demurrer on the ground that there is liability when a person acts, without special privilege, intending that harm should result, and the harm does result. Associate Justice Vinson dissented. Clark v. Associated Retail Credit Men of Washington, D. C., (App. D. C. 1939) 105 F. (2d) 62