In this personal injury action, Milton Lockhart appeals the grant of summary judgment on his claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress against his former employer, Marine Manufacturing Corporation Marine, and two former supervisors, Floyd Lutrell and Jeff Mass, for comments made to Lockhart by Marine employees. We hold that the Marine employees’ comments do not constitute the “extreme and outrageous conduct” required to sustain a claim for an intentional infliction of emotional distress; accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants. To prevail at summary judgment under OCGA § 9-11-56, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law. A defendant may do this by showing the court that the documents, affidavits, depositions and other evidence in the record reveal that there is no evidence sufficient to create a jury issue on at least one essential element of plaintiff’s case. If there is no evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue as to any essential element of plaintiff’s claim, that claim tumbles like a house of cards. Emphasis omitted. Gwinnett Health System v. Delu .1 Construed in favor of Lockhart, the evidence shows that while working at Marine, Lockhart experienced four incidents of racist-laden and insulting comments originating from three Marine employees, including Lockhart’s supervisors. The first incident occurred shortly after Lockhart began work at Marine in April 2001. Lutrell, one of Lockhart’s supervisors and a Caucasian, ordered Lockhart, an African-American, to retrieve an item that Lutrell required or else Lutrell would “have the Ku Klux Klan burn a cross in your yard.” Another incident occurred approximately three months later when Lockhart was moving boat motors with a forklift. A fellow Marine employee told Lockhart to be careful with the motors because “you can’t pay for that motor with food stamps.” This comment was overheard by the plant manager, Jeff Mass.
The next incident occurred sometime later and involved plant manager Jeff Mass. Displeased with the speed at which Lockhart was performing a certain task, Mass told Lockhart that “I ain’t your m —f — — —nigger. I ain’t going to be doing your m — —f — — — work for you.” Startled by Mass’s comment, Lockhart asked Mass to repeat himself, and Mass reiterated the “same exact thing.” Thereafter, Lockhart quit Marine. However, a few days later Mass visited Lockhart’s home to apologize for the comments. Lockhart then returned to work at Marine.
