Cal. Civ. Code § (a) If the court as a matter of law finds the contract or any clause of the contract to have been unconscionable at the time it was made the court may refuse to enforce the contract, or it may enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause, or it may so limit the application of any unconscionable clause so as to avoid any unconscionable result.

Be Assertive Unless the plaintiff demonstrates medically verifiable symptoms of emotional distress, she cannot satisfy the third element of the tort, and her entire cause of action must be dismissed. For example, in Farnor the court held the plaintiff had not established severe emotional distress where she only called her doctor about her ulcer and sought no other medical treatment. In McGrath, severe emotional distress was found, but there plaintiff suffered a heart attack -- a medically verifiable event. [careful with because]

Be Assertive Where a plaintiff is forced to seek professional help for her symptoms of emotional distress, as Laura did here, the severe emotional distress element of IIED is satisfied. For example, in McGrath, the plaintiff sought treatment for his heart condition that was caused, as were Laura’s symptoms here, by the extreme and outrageous actions of the defendants. Moreover, even if a visit to a therapist does not automatically satisfy the severe emotional distress element, Laura’s other injuries more than meet the necessary threshold. Her loss of weight, anxiety, and insomnia are no less debilitating to her than the plaintiff’s heart attack was in McGrath, and the court in Feltmeier recognized than an abused wife’s psychological symptoms were key to establishing severe emotional distress.

Example of First Paragraph for Introduction Steven and Alice Weiss love their daughter Laura. When Laura was about to join a cult -- which attempted to get its hands on Laura’s $500,000 trust fund within minutes after she became a member -- Steve and Alice wanted to show her the truth about her new found “religion.” They invited her to their cabin – an invitation Laura freely accepted – and introduced her to Dr. Nathan Pratt, a nationally known expert on the dangers posed by these venal hucksters posing as religious gurus. Dr. Pratt spoke with Laura calmly; she had plenty to eat; she slept when she wanted. Steve and Alice told her then, and continue to tell her, they only wanted the best for her. After a few days, Laura announced she agreed with Dr. Pratt and renounced the cult. Steve and Alice drove her home, and she acknowledges that she began to look at the organization suspiciously after hearing from Dr. Pratt. She has suffered no medically verifiable symptoms as a result of her parents intervention, but now that she does not feel she is up to working or going to school, she wants Steve and Alice to pay her hundreds of thousands of dollars for intentional infliction of emotional distress in the present lawsuit. As Steve and Alice have only looked out for Laura’s interests, have done so out of concern, and have not caused her any medically verified injury, the suit should be dismissed.

Example of First Paragraph for Introduction This is an intentional infliction of emotional distress action where two parents kidnapped, kept captive, and abjectly humiliated their adult daughter Laura solely to satisfy their own sense of religious propriety while denying Laura her constitutionally protected rights to freedom of religion and to dispose of her property as she saw fit. After Laura had chosen a religion of which they did not approve, they abused Laura’s trust by inviting her for a friendly weekend at their cabin. There, they took her clothes, kept her isolated, became her jailer, and forced her, day after day for over two weeks, to listen to an obsessive “deprogrammer” denigrate Laura’s chosen religion. They continued trying to impose their will on Laura despite her pleas and tears begging them to stop, and have caused Laura to be rejected by her religion, to lie awake at night, to live with constant anxiety, and to be forced to see a therapist who has put her on powerful antidepressant medication. The parents intentionally and recklessly committed these extreme and outrageous acts, and for causing Laura severe emotional upset, they are liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress and the motion should thus be denied.