Peoples v. Guthrie

Birdsong, Presiding Judge.

Elizabeth Peoples sued Mickie Harrison Guthrie for slander and intentional infliction of emotional distress, arising when Ms. Guthrie, who was a supervisor at the Georgia Retardation Center where Ms. Peoples worked, accused Peoples of cheating on a test. The jury awarded the plaintiff Peoples compensatory damages of $17,500 with punitive damages of $110,000 for the count of slander, and awarded ¡ompensatory damages of $62,000 with punitive damages of $62,000 :or the count of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The trial court, on the defendant’s motion for…