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Patton v. Strabala1/30/2002
urt did not find the church's involvement in this sequence of events to be outrageous. (Id. at p. 304.)
Here, SRA claimed in its non-suit motion that no outrageous conduct existed. Akin to the pastor in Nally who was performing his job as a pastor, SRA was performing its job as an auditor. It reviewed the records of Startronix and as discussed above, there is no evidence that the actions of SRA were anything but standard practice with respect to the audit of a company whose prior auditors quit because of financial management problems with that company. Non-suit was properly granted on the plaintiffs' claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Reversal is warranted only if there is "'some substance to plaintiff's evidence upon which reasonable minds could differ.' [Citation.]" (Carson, supra 36 Cal. 3d at p. 839.) No such evidence exists here.
D. Non-suit Grounds: No Evidence of Malice, Oppression or Fraud
Malice, oppression or fraud proven on the part of SRA would have justified an award of emotional distress and related punitive damages. However, since there was no evidence of any action taken by SRA to intentionally interfere with the rights of Fitch and Patton, we need not enter into any related discussion of malice, oppression or fraud. disposition
The judgment is affirmed.
WE CONCUR:
McINTYRE, J.
O'ROURKE, J.
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