Date: 04-15-2002

Case Style: Gerald K. Adams v. Uno Restaurants, Inc. d/b/a Pizzeria Uno Restaurant & Bar

Case Number: 2000-266

Judge: Per Curiam

Court: Supreme Court of Rhode Island

Plaintiff's Attorney: Gerald K. Adams (pro se)

Defendant's Attorney: Andrew B. Prescott

Description: In this case, a Superior Court jury, after trial, returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, Gerald K. Adams, finding that the defendant, Uno Restaurants, Inc. d/b/a Pizzeria Uno Restaurant & Bar, had wrongfully terminated the plaintiff’s employment in violation of the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, G.L. 1956 chapter 50 of title 28.1 It awarded Adams $7,500 for damages. The trial justice, in ruling upon the defendant’s Super.R.Civ.P. 50 motion for judgment as a matter of law, upon which decision had been reserved, denied the defendant’s motion, upheld the jury’s finding on the defendant’s liability, but set aside the jury’s award of damages to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff timely appealed the trial justice’s setting aside of the jury’s damages award, and the defendant timely appealed the trial justice’s denial of its Rule 50 motion for judgment as a matter of law. After a prebriefing conference before a single justice of this Court, the parties were ordered to show cause why this appeal should not summarily be decided. After hearing their arguments and reading their legal memoranda, we conclude that cause has not been shown, and we proceed summarily to decide the appeal.

Facts

On May 20, 1996, the plaintiff, who had been employed by the defendant for several years, arrived for his nighttime line cooking shift at the defendant’s Warwick restaurant. Shortly after his shift began, the plaintiff noticed that the kitchen floor was saturated with a foul-smelling liquid coming from drains and backing up water onto the floor. He complained of illness and went home, at which time he contacted the Department of Health about the drainage problem in the restaurant’s kitchen. A Department of Health representative visited the restaurant that evening and noticed that the floor drains were backed up and that the floor was wet and slippery. She ordered the kitchen staff to dispose of all the food they had touched with their bare hands and closed the restaurant for the night, leaving instructions to sanitize the kitchen area and clear all the drains. She also inquired about which employee went home sick. The restaurant reopened the next day after sanitizing the kitchen.

On May 22, 1996, two days after the incident, the plaintiff, who was not scheduled to work that day, returned to the restaurant curious to determine whether there was any hostility toward him resulting from his having called the Department of Health. The plaintiff testified that he was summarily ordered by David Badot, the restaurant’s manager, to come into his office and that Badot proceeded to shout at him while inquiring whether he had contacted the Department of Health. The plaintiff testified that he shouted back at Badot and acknowledged that he had indeed called the Department of Health. Badot then accused the plaintiff of stealing one of the defendant’s softball team shirts and of taking a work schedule home. Badot then left his office, and the plaintiff followed him out into the general cooking area, where other employees were present. The shouting match between Badot and the plaintiff continued and in the course thereof, the plaintiff told Badot that he “was going to follow him back to Massachusetts on this, and [he] was going to blow the intelligence out of his head.”2 The plaintiff then left the restaurant. Badot claimed to have perceived the plaintiff’s words as threatening and instructed an employee to call the police. When the plaintiff later heard that the police were looking for him, he voluntarily went to the Warwick police station, whereupon he was then charged with disorderly conduct, arraigned, and pled not guilty. No trial on the charge ensued. The charge was later filed. One year later his record of arrest and charge automatically was expunged pursuant to the case filing statute.

Shortly thereafter, the plaintiff commenced this civil action against the defendant alleging therein that he had been unlawfully terminated only because he had notified the Department of Health regarding the unsanitary kitchen conditions existing at the defendant’s Warwick Pizzeria Uno Restaurant & Bar.

Following a Superior Court jury trial, the jury returned a general verdict in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him damages in the amount of $7,500 as permitted by the state’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act.

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We have long required that a plaintiff seeking to recover a monetary award for the tortious infliction of emotional distress must establish, among other elements, that he or she experienced physical symptoms of their alleged emotional distress, and that expert medical testimony is needed to support the existence of a causal relationship between the defendant’s wrongful conduct and his or her claimed emotional distress. Swerdlick v. Koch, 721 A.2d 849, 862-63 (R.I. 1998); Vallinoto v. DiSandro, 688 A.2d 830, 838-40 (R.I. 1997); Reilly v. United States, 547 A.2d 894, 896-99 (R.I. 1988). We have done so “to safeguard against bogus or exaggerated emotional-damage claims.” Hawkins v. Scituate Oil Co., 723 A.2d 771, 773 (R.I. 1999).

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Click the case caption above for the full text of the Court's opinion.

Outcome: For the reasons set out above, the plaintiff’s appeal is sustained, and the defendant’s appeal is denied and dismissed. The final judgment of the Superior Court is vacated. The case papers are remanded to that court for entry of an amended final judgment that will include the trial jury’s award of damages to the plaintiff in the amount of $7,500.

Plaintiff's Experts: Unavailable

Defendant's Experts: Unavailable

Comments: None