Jogged Memory of My Grandpa's death.

I was reading a torts case about intentional affliction of emotional distress. An issue that was discussed in the case was possibility to acquire physical injury from emotional distress. A bunch of tough guys in an association threatened and scared another so much that after two to three hours of threats, the guy went home, threw up, and had to remain home from work for the next few days. The court stated that he suffered extreme fear.

This case dislodged a memory about my grandfather in my head. My mother's father, a distinguished engineer, a good husband, an amazing father, a handsome fellow, an academic bookie, died the day after he was put antagonized by the USSR influenced Georgia. All I remember of the story was that he was taken aside at a shindig, held by both arms, and made to stand still as some motherfucker interviewed him and ran a knife up and down his chest.My grandmother found him in bed the next morning with no heartbeat, cold to the touch. No one ever doubted that fear and apprehension forced him to leave his loving family.

I've known this story for a really long time. Even though I only caught snatches of the story as a very young kid in adult conversations, I can't think of my grandpa without imagining a bloody tear in his shirt running down his chest.

Thinking back, there was probably nothing that anyone in my family could do to have justice done on this act. I can't hold my excitement how happy I am that U.S. law accounts for these types of mental suffering crimes. My previous tenuous thoughts about the malleability of the U.S. legal system have officially strengthened.