Privacy - Constitution doesn’t say anything about privacy. (not guaranteed in constitution) 4 Torts 1. Appropriation: use of someone’s name or likeness without their consent 2. False Light 3. Intrusion (receiving stolen info) and Trespass 4. Public Disclosure of Private Facts 1. Appropriation 1902 Roberson v. Rochester Folding Box Company - 10 yr old’s face used on flower, she lost bc no law says they can’t (no right of privacy) 1905 Pavesich v. New England Life Insurance Co. - Georgia supreme court did recognize right of privacy Right of Publicity - Right of celebrities to exploit commercial value of their name or likeness (like property right) Problem with look-alikes 1984 Onassis v. Christian Dior - Jackie Onassis won damages in look-alike suit Problem with sound-alikes 1988 Midler v. Ford - Ad agency asked her backup singer to sound like her, Bette Midler won $400k - Case of first impression (first time this had happened) 1992 Waits v. Frito-Lay - Tom Waits won $2.6 mil when singer imitated his voice in “Step Right Up” - Got more bc it had happened before, they knew they were doing something wrong - Does it violate a celebrity’s right of publicity to paint a pic of them? 2003 ETW Corp. v. Jireh Publishing - Artist Rick Rush sold 5,000 prints of his painting of Tiger Woods’ Masters win - Court said 1st Amendment protects art that portrays an historic event, like news 1977 Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. - Zacchini was human cannonball, TV broadcast his entire 15 min act, he sued for violation of his right of publicity - Sup ruled in favor of Z, said TV viewers would not come to see him in person Defense in Appropriation Suits = written consent - Consent fails as a defense if time period for written consent has expired - Consent succeeds as a defense if parent of minor child gives consent, even if child tries to revoke later 1983 Brooke Shields v. Gross - Shields naked in movie at age 10, when 18 wants to stop distribution of movie. Lost 2. False Light - Private persons (like public figures) must prove malice to win a false light case1967 Time v. Hill - Confusing ruling - Hill lost, life thought it was false so didn’t prove malice 1969 Spahn v. Julian Messner - Author wrote unauthorized biography of baseball player Spahn, never interviewed him just invented dialoue, didn’t say anything bad, all good stuff - He sued bc he was embarrassed, court found malice, Spahn won 1974 Cantrel v. Forest City Publishing - Fabricating :interview” = malice - Reporter Esterhas pretended to interview widow Margarat Cantrell - Court found false light, found malice bc he made up interview 1979 Bindrim v. Mitchell - Gwen Mitchell wrote novel, Touching, about the Nude Marathon encounter group, gave group leader dif name and dif physical description but witnesses still recognized Bindrim - She previously promised she wouldn’t write anything about it - Bindrim won 1984 Duncan v. WJLA-TV (same as libel) 1993 Mitchell v. Globe International - Sun reported that 101 yr old Mitchell was pregnant, sued and won $1.5 mil in damages Problems with False Light Tort - Some states refuse to recognize false light tort (too similar to defamation) - Editors don’t always get the red flags of defamatory words as in libel cases 3. Intrusion: Receiving Stolen Info 1969 Pearson v. Dodd - Someone copied files in Senator Dodd’s office, gave to columnists Pearson & Anderson. - Dodd sued for conversion, but Pearson and Anderson won- court held that they didn’t “aid and abet” the person who brought them copies of the files 3. Intrusion and Trespass 1982 Galella v. Onassis - Ron Galella was ordered to pay Jackie Onassis $10k and stay 25 ft away 1999 Cali passed “stalkerazzi” law - Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver 2005 Paparazzi rammed cars into Reese Witherspoon and Lindsay Lohan’s cars, used car to knock down friend walking w/ Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake 2013 Steven Tyler Action- Hawaii (not a law yet) - Would protect celebs from paparazzi who try to get videos of celebs in private moments Trespass1978 Le Mistral v. CBS - Restaurant won $1,200 in damages against CBS when its reporters did not leave 1997 CompuServe v. Promotions Inc - Court extended trespass law to Internet, held that cyber promotions could not spam CompuServe subscribers 1999 Food Lion v Capital Cities/ABC - ABC producers got jobs at Food Lion, secretly recorded selling expired beef, rat-gnawed cheese, fish washed in bleach to kill smell - Food Lion sued for trespass and fraud - Fourth Circuit upheld $2 award against ABC for breach of loyalty and trespass *Intrusion: tort occurs when info gathered not when its published (on exam) - Eavesdropping w/ telephoto lenses or electronic listening devices in homes or offices has resulted in continued litigation 1971 Dietemann v. Time - Dietmann sued for intrusion, won $1,000 - Court said 1st Amendment is not a license to trespass, steal or intrude by electronic means Litigation resulting from Secret Videotaping in “Ride-Along” cases 1998 Shulman v. Group W Productions - Shulman and her son flown to hospital in medical helicopter, didn’t know flight nurse wearing microphone, cameraman videotaping them, sued for intrusion - Sup held that they should have had same expectation of privacy as in a hospital room - Settled out of court 1999 Wilson v. Layne - Sup held that if police allow journalists to enter home, it constitutes intrusion and also violates 4th Amendment 1999 Hanlon v. Berger - CNN reporters accompanied US Fish & Wildlife officers to ranch of Berger to look for poisoned eagles, Sup ruled against CNN, CNN settled out of court Litigation resulting from Hidden Videocameras 1999 Sanders v. ABC - ABC journalist secretly videotaped Sanders in a telephone psychic service cubicle - He sued for intrusion, court held that Sanders should have had a “legitimate expectation of privacy” in his office. - ABC paid Sanders $934k in damages Law of Electronic Surveillance 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) (aka Federal Wiretap Statute) - 1994 ECPA amended to