Gagliardi v. Denny's Restaurants, Inc.

815 P.2d 1362, 117 Wash. 2d 426 (1991)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
G
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Gagliardi v. Denny’s Restaurants, Inc.

Washington Supreme Court
815 P.2d 1362, 117 Wash. 2d 426 (1991)

Facts

Ronda Gagliardi (plaintiff) was a bartender at a restaurant owned by Denny’s Restaurants, Inc. (Denny’s) (defendant). Denny’s terminated Gagliardi’s employment after she was fighting on the premises in violation of company policy. Gagliardi sought treatment from a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with acute traumatic stress syndrome due to her termination. Gagliardi filed a breach-of-contract claim and a tort claim for outrage against Denny’s, alleging that Denny’s did not follow the terms of the employee handbook in discharging her. Among other things, Gagliardi sought damages for emotional distress. Denny’s moved to preclude emotional-distress damages before trial, and the court first granted the motion and then reversed, denying the motion. Following the presentation of Gagliardi’s case at trial, the court granted Denny’s motion for a directed verdict on her outrage claim. After trial concluded, the jury found for Gagliardi, awarding her $55,000 in economic damages and $75,000 in noneconomic damages. The court denied Denny’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and Denny’s appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Dolliver, J.)

Concurrence/Dissent (Utter, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 811,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Remedies

Key Terms