Between 1996 and 1998, Donna Swanson received several anonymous, handwritten letters that,among other things,accused her husband, Alan, of infidelity. In 1998, John Grisham, Jr., the author of The Firm and many other best-selling novels, received an anonymous letter that appeared to have been written by the same person. Grisham and the Swansons suspected Katherine Almy, who soon filed a suit in a Virginia state court against them, alleging, among other things, intentional infliction of emotional distress.According to Almy, Grisham intended to have her “really,really,suffer”for writing the letters, and the three devised a scheme to falselyaccuse her.They gave David Liebman,a handwriting analyst, samples of Almy’s handwriting. These included copies of confidential documents from her children’s files at St. Anne’s–Belfield School in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Alan taught and Grisham served on the board of directors. In Almy’s view, Grisham influenced Liebman to report that Almy might have written the letters and misrepresented this report as conclusive,which led the police to confront Almy. She claimed that she then suffered severe emotional distress and depression, causing “a complete disintegration of virtually every aspect of her life”and requiring her “to undergo extensive therapy.” In response, the defendants asked the court to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim. Should the court grant this request? Explain.
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