## Facts

- Spiegel, Inc., operating retail stores as “Federal Stores,” used agents to collect alleged debts.
- Around 11 p.m. on May 28, 1948, Spiegel’s agent telephoned a third party’s home (the Prator residence) asking for Pearl Bowden.
- When asked if the call was an emergency, the agent said it was, prompting the Prator family to notify Bowden that an “emergency” call awaited her.
- On the call, the agent told Bowden to “bear up” because the message would be a “shock,” then revealed it was a demand that she pay a bill.
- Bowden alleged she did not owe any money; the agent threatened suit, warned litigation would cost her money, and stated that unless she came to the store the next morning he would “cause [her] a lot of trouble.”
- Bowden alleged the agent acted maliciously, intending to vex, harass, and annoy her, without probable cause.
- Bowden alleged severe emotional upset from the incident and resulting physical illness.

## Issues

1. Whether allegations of a deceptive, coercive late-night collection call, intended to upset the plaintiff and causing emotional distress and physical illness, state a tort cause of action sufficient to survive a general demurrer.
2. Whether tort recovery may be based primarily on spoken words when the alleged wrongful conduct causes emotional shock that results in physical injury.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment entered after the demurrer was sustained without leave to amend.
- The court held the pleaded facts, taken as true at the demurrer stage, stated a cause of action for intentional infliction of mental suffering producing physical injury.
- The court rejected any categorical bar to liability merely because the alleged misconduct consisted largely of spoken words.

## Legal Principles

- Intentional or malicious conduct directed at a plaintiff, calculated to cause severe emotional distress and alleged to have produced resulting physical illness, can be actionable in tort.
- Liability is not precluded solely because the wrongful conduct is verbal rather than physical; the form of the conduct is generally immaterial when physical harm is alleged to result through its effect on the mind and nervous system.
- On general demurrer, well-pleaded allegations of malice, causation, and resulting physical illness are accepted as true when assessing whether a complaint states a claim.

## Conclusion

A creditor’s agent’s alleged use of a late-night “emergency” ruse and threats to coerce payment of a debt not owed, pleaded as malicious and causing emotional shock with consequent physical illness, was sufficient to state a tort claim; sustaining a general demurrer without leave to amend was error.


Bowden v. Spiegel, Inc., 216 P.2d 571 (Cal. Ct. App. 1950)