This is an appeal from the grant of summary judgment to all defendants in an action for intentional infliction of emotional distress filed by Mahmoud Abdul-Malik based on events underlying his termination from AirTran Airways Inc. The defendants/appellees are AirTran Airways Inc.; Stanley D. Whitehead, the Director of the Atlanta Station, with overall responsibility for AirTran’s operation, employees, and assets in Atlanta; Michael L. Brown, the Manager of System Baggage Service; Rick Pelc, General Manager of the Atlanta operation; Charles West, a retired special agent with the United States Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, who worked for All-N-1 Security Services, Inc. “All-N-1″, a security firm with whom AirTran contracted to investigate theft from checked baggage; and Calvin J. Cole, Jr., a detective with the City of Atlanta Police Department who was assigned to the airport station. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the grant of summary judgment to all defendants. Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c. A de novo standard of review applies to an appeal from a grant of summary judgment, and we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.1 Properly viewed, the record shows that AirTran hired Abdul-Malik on January 16, 2004, to work as a ramp agent at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In August 2005, AirTran began experiencing an increasing number of complaints of theft from checked baggage at the airport and contracted with All-N-1 to assist in investigating these incidents. During the course of the investigation, West, All-N-1′s investigator who became its chief operating officer, deposed that he received a telephone call at home from an unidentified male on November 11, 2005. The caller accused West of “messing with” the caller’s buddies and threatened to blow up West’s house. West observed from the caller identification device that the call was made from AirTran’s general number at the airport. West testified that he reported the call to either Whitehead or Brown. Charles Carter, an undercover operative for All-N-1 who worked as an AirTran employee, overheard Abdul-Malik admit making the threatening call to West and reported it in an e-mail to Chana Reed Rogers,2 All-N-1′s human resources manager, on November 14, 2005. Specifically, the e-mail states that while sitting in the office with a number of other employees waiting for a plane to arrive, Carter heard Abdul-Malik say to James Hegarty, another ramp agent, “I am going to find out where Mr. West lives and I am going to blow his house up for what he did to Sixty-Nine.” Hegarty then asked who West was and what he did to Sixty-Nine. Abdul-Malik responded that West “tries to get people fired for no reason . . . . I called his ass to scare him but he hung up on me.” Whitehead averred that the e-mail was forwarded to him on November 15.
Abdul-Malik deposed that on November 30, 2005, an AirTran manager came to Concourse D, where Abdul-Malik was working, and escorted him to Whitehead’s office for a meeting. Detective Cole was present, and Whitehead introduced Abdul-Malik to him. Brown was present but did not speak. Whitehead explained that AirTran was conducting an investigation into terroristic threats that had been made to West. Abdul-Malik deposed that Whitehead asked if he was Muslim, and Abdul-Malik replied affirmatively. Whitehead asked Abdul-Malik if he knew West. Abdul-Malik said he did not. According to Abdul-Malik, Cole said, “I see your heart beating through your chest. You’re . . . guilty.” Abdul-Malik also deposed that Cole called him a liar and a terrorist. Abdul-Malik asked for an attorney. He was not questioned further, and he was not detained. Abdul-Malik never saw Cole again. Whitehead informed Abdul-Malik that he would be suspended with pay pending an investigation and instructed him to hand over his badge. Abdul-Malik was terminated on December 9, 2005, for making a false statement during the investigation.3 He was never prosecuted.
