## Facts

- Cora Brooker worked as a night operator at a telephone exchange in Barnwell, South Carolina.
- A. E. Silverthorne called the exchange seeking a connection; Brooker attempted to complete it but was unable to do so.
- Brooker alleged that, during the call, Silverthorne used profane insults and stated, “If I were there, I would break your God damned neck.”
- Brooker claimed the language frightened her, caused sickness, insomnia, and continuing nervous symptoms affecting her work.
- Silverthorne denied making the statements and offered corroborating testimony, but the jury found for Brooker; on appeal, the court assumed Brooker’s version of events.
- The trial court overruled Silverthorne’s demurrer, denied his nonsuit motion, and entered judgment on a $2,000 verdict for mental anguish and nervous shock.

## Issues

1. Whether abusive, conditional language spoken over the telephone, without physical contact or apparent present ability to execute harm, constitutes an actionable threat or assault.
2. Whether mental anguish and nervous shock, unaccompanied by physical injury and absent a special relationship imposing a heightened duty, are compensable in tort.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of South Carolina reversed the judgment for Brooker.
- The court held that the conditional statement made from a distance (“If I were there . . .”) did not amount to a legally actionable threat under the circumstances.
- The court further held that mental anguish alone, without physical injury and without a recognized exception, could not support recovery.

## Legal Principles

- A threat of bodily injury is actionable only if it is made under circumstances that would place a person of ordinary reason and firmness in fear that influences conduct, or if made against a person known by the speaker to be peculiarly susceptible to fear.
- Abusive words, without an accompanying act or circumstances indicating immediate bodily harm, generally do not constitute an assault and are not independently actionable.
- Telephone operators are not presumed to lack ordinary reason and firmness; absent allegations of known special susceptibility, the ordinary-person standard applies.
- As a general rule, damages for mental anguish disconnected from physical injury are not recoverable, subject to limited statutory or special-relationship exceptions.

## Conclusion

The court denied tort recovery for emotional distress arising from a profane, conditional telephone statement because it was not a legally sufficient threat to a person of ordinary firmness and because South Carolina law did not permit damages for mental anguish unaccompanied by physical injury outside recognized exceptions.


Brooker v. Silverthorne, 111 S.C. 553, 99 S.E. 350 (S.C. 1919)