In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ 

No. 23-2905 

CASSANDRA SOCHA, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

v.

CITY OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS and

EDWARD GRIZZLE, 

Defendants-Appellees.

____________________ 

Appeal from the United States District Court for the 

Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. 

No. 1:18-cv-05681 — Jorge L. Alonso, Judge. 

____________________ 

ARGUED APRIL 3, 2024 — DECIDED JULY 10, 2024 

____________________ 

Before ST. EVE, KIRSCH, and LEE, Circuit Judges. 

KIRSCH, Circuit Judge. Cassandra Socha, a patrol officer 

with the Joliet Police Department (JPD), sent a text message to 

her neighbor criticizing her for testifying in the criminal trial 

of Socha’s boyfriend. Upon learning of the message, a prosecutor recommended to Sergeant Edward Grizzle that he secure a search warrant for Socha’s cell phone. He did so and
2 No. 23-2905 

thereby obtained authority to search Socha’s phone for any 

and all data related to electronic communications. 

Socha turned her phone over to Sgt. Grizzle and stressed 

to him that there was personal content on her phone that she 

wanted to remain private. To search for the text message, JPD 

detectives used forensic software called Cellebrite to extract 

all the data from her phone. They then saved the extracted 

data on the only computer that ran the software. Not long after the extraction, Socha heard rumors that people within the 

JPD had seen explicit content from her phone. Only two members of the JPD, however, admitted to seeing such content: Detectives Donald McKinney and Brad McKeon. Det. McKinney

had opened a photograph on the Cellebrite computer and 

brought it to Det. McKeon’s attention. The City asserts that 

Det. McKinney accessed the photograph inadvertently while

opening random files in order to familiarize himself with and 

train on Cellebrite. Socha argues he opened her photograph 

intentionally and without proper authorization. 

Socha sued the City of Joliet, Sgt. Grizzle, and 20 John 

Does. She brought multiple claims under federal and Illinois 

law, including, as relevant to this appeal, a claim under 42 

U.S.C. § 1983 against Sgt. Grizzle for violating her Fourth 

Amendment rights and an intrusion upon seclusion claim under Illinois law against the City. The district court granted 

summary judgment to Sgt. Grizzle on the § 1983 claim and, 

rather than exercise its discretion to relinquish supplemental

jurisdiction over the Illinois law claim under 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1367(c)(3), also granted summary judgment to the City on 

the intrusion upon seclusion claim. 

We agree that Sgt. Grizzle is entitled to qualified to immunity and thus conclude that the court properly granted 
No. 23-2905 3 

summary judgment in his favor on the § 1983 claim. But, as to 

the intrusion upon seclusion claim, we disagree with the district court and conclude that a reasonable jury could find that 

Det. McKinney accessed Socha’s photograph intentionally 

and without authorization, so we reverse the grant of summary judgment on that claim. 

I 

Cassandra Socha has been a patrol officer with the JPD

since 2014. At some point, she became romantically involved 

with another JPD patrol officer, Nick Crowley. In July 2017, 

she and Crowley had a domestic dispute at their home that 

resulted in Crowley being charged with reckless discharge of 

a firearm. Their neighbor, Maria Gatlin, provided a statement 

to Joliet police about the incident and later testified in Crowley’s bench trial during the state’s case in chief in May 2018. 

Crowley was acquitted of the charge. 

After Gatlin’s testimony and counsel’s closing arguments, 

but before the verdict, Socha sent Gatlin a text message taking 

issue with her testimony. Shortly after receiving the message,

Gatlin showed it to Lorinda Lamken, a Special Prosecutor 

with the Office of the State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor.

Lamken believed the text message could constitute witness 

harassment in violation of Illinois law and, consequently, contacted Sergeant Edward Grizzle, the detective who had been 

assigned to investigate Crowley’s criminal case. Lamken told

Sgt. Grizzle that it would be necessary to secure a search warrant for Socha’s phone to confirm that the message to Gatlin 

had come from Socha. Sgt. Grizzle then met with JPD Chief 

Brian Benton and Deputy Chief of Investigations Al Roechner 

who directed him to obtain a search warrant for Socha’s 

phone if Lamken so desired. 
4 No. 23-2905 

After meeting with Gatlin and seeing a screenshot of the 

message, Sgt. Grizzle conferred with Lamken about how to 

draft the warrant application. Sgt. Grizzle then prepared, 

signed, and swore to a complaint describing his investigation

and seeking a search warrant for Socha’s phone. It described 

how Socha contacted Gatlin via text message after Gatlin testified, how Gatlin knew the message was from Socha based 

on the phone number, and that deleted files on a cell phone 

can be recovered using forensic software. He also sent the 

completed complaint to Lamken, who reviewed and approved it. 

Sgt. Grizzle submitted the complaint to the Circuit Court

of Will County, which issued a search warrant authorizing the 

seizure and search of Socha’s phone for 

Any and all data regarding electronic communications, including dates and times of those communications, digital images or videos, e-mail, voice mail, 

buddy lists, chat logs, instant messaging or text accounts, forensic data as well as data pertaining to 

ownership and registration of the device, any and 

all access logs identifying who utilized said digital 

storage devices, and any “hidden,” erased, compressed, password-protected, or encrypted files. 

It also granted authority to “analyze and search any media 

seized for relevant evidence as outlined in this search warrant.” 

Later that day, Socha was brought to a conference room at 

the JPD station, and Sgt. Grizzle served her with the search 

warrant, telling her that he needed her phone. Before giving 

her phone to Sgt. Grizzle, Socha expressed a common concern
No. 23-2905 5 

that there was material on her phone she did not want anyone 

to see. She did not describe the private material to Sgt. Grizzle. 

Upon seizing the phone, Sgt. Grizzle asked Detective 

Christopher Botzum to extract the data from it using Cellebrite, a forensic software used to extract and analyze data 

from phones, including deleted files. Det. Botzum extracted 

the data, saved it to a folder with a non-descriptive file name 

that did not include Socha’s name, and showed Sgt. Grizzle 

where it was saved. Det. German also saved the data onto a 

USB thumb drive and gave it to Sgt. Grizzle. Besides the 

thumb drive, the extracted data was only accessible on one 

computer in the JPD station. That computer was password 

protected (though the password was, simply, “Joliet”), it was 

in an area within the JPD investigations unit requiring 

keycode access, and only those who knew how to use Cellebrite could navigate the program to access the data on the 

computer. That said, JPD General Order 10-6 governed access 

to investigative files such as the phone extractions contained 

in Cellebrite. It set out that, “Investigative case files shall only 

be accessible to law enforcement personnel at the discretion 

of the assigned investigator or an Investigation supervisor.”

After finishing the extraction, the JPD returned Socha’s phone 

to her. The data was eventually deleted from the Cellebrite 

computer around three weeks after it was first downloaded. 

Sgt. Grizzle downloaded the extracted data onto his computer from the thumb drive, searched it by looking through 

pages of text messages for ones associated with Gatlin’s 

phone number, and located the text message at issue. After 

Sgt. Grizzle’s investigation, Socha was neither disciplined by 

JPD nor criminally charged in connection with the text message. 
6 No. 23-2905 

Over the summer, Socha became aware of rumors, in part 

via an anonymous letter, that individuals within JPD had 

viewed explicit content extracted from her phone. But only 

Detectives Donald McKinney and Brad McKeon admitted to 

seeing any such material. At the time, Det. McKinney, a newer

detective, had been informally training on and familiarizing 

himself with Cellebrite at the direction of Det. German, who 

had given him the password to the Cellebrite computer. Defendants claim Det. McKinney, as part of the informal training, would use the Cellebrite computer to view data relevant 

to cases other than ones to which he was assigned. Neither 

Det. McKinney nor Det. McKeon were involved in investigating Socha’s message to Gatlin. 

At some time between the date when Socha’s data was 

downloaded and when it was deleted, Det. McKinney accessed a media folder on Cellebrite and opened a photograph 

depicting a nude, female torso from the shoulders down. Det. 

McKinney then brought the photograph to the attention of

Det. McKeon, who was sitting next to him. Det. McKeon 

looked at the photograph, asked Det. McKinney what the image was, and McKinney replied with something to the effect 

of “it might be Socha’s phone” or “it could be Socha’s records.” Defendants contend that Det. McKinney, as part of his 

informal training on Cellebrite, was accessing random files to 

familiarize himself with the system and inadvertently opened 

the photograph, but Socha disputes this. They also assert that, 

after opening the photograph, Det. McKinney saw a thumbnail that appeared to depict a face, clicked on and viewed a 

second photograph in which Socha’s face was visible, and 

then promptly closed the Cellebrite program. Socha disputes 

this as well. 
No. 23-2905 7 

After becoming aware of the rumors, Socha sued the City, 

Sgt. Grizzle, and 20 John Does raising a host of claims under 

federal and Illinois law. After the court granted motions to 

dismiss and the close of discovery, Socha’s remaining claims 

were: (1) violation of her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment 

rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Sgt. Grizzle; (2) intrusion upon seclusion under Illinois law against the City and 

Grizzle; and (3) invasion of privacy/publication of private 

facts under Illinois law against the City and Grizzle. (Socha 

failed to prosecute her claims against the John Doe defendants, so those were dismissed.) 

Sgt. Grizzle and the City moved for summary judgment.

Finding that Socha had not opposed summary judgment on

the Fourteenth Amendment and invasion of privacy/publication of private facts claims, the court only addressed the merits of the Fourth Amendment claim against Sgt. Grizzle and 

the intrusion upon seclusion claims against the City and Grizzle. The court granted the defendants’ motions, exercising

(but not expressly addressing the issue of) supplemental jurisdiction over the intrusion upon seclusion claim, even 

though it dismissed the federal claim. Socha now appeals. She 

does not challenge the grant of summary judgment to Sgt. 

Grizzle on the intrusion upon seclusion claim, so we say no 

more about it. 

II

We first address Socha’s objection to the district court’s 

grant of summary judgment on her § 1983 claim against Sgt. 

Grizzle on qualified immunity grounds. She alleges that his 

obtaining and executing the search warrant for her phone violated the Fourth Amendment. The district court concluded 

that Sgt. Grizzle was immune because Socha failed to show a 
8 No. 23-2905 

violation of clearly established law. We review a grant of summary judgment on such grounds de novo. Kemp v. Liebel, 877 

F.3d 346, 350 (7th Cir. 2017). 

Socha raises two theories on appeal to argue that the district court erred because Sgt. Grizzle violated clearly established law and is thus not entitled to qualified immunity, but 

neither carries the day. She asserts Sgt. Grizzle is liable because: (1) he made material omissions and misrepresentations 

in the warrant application; and (2) he sought, obtained, and 

executed an overbroad warrant. 

A 

A warrant request violates the Fourth Amendment if an 

officer, in making the request, “knowingly, intentionally, or 

with reckless disregard for the truth, makes false statements” 

that were material—that is, “necessary to the determination 

that a warrant should issue,” Hart v. Mannina, 798 F.3d 578, 

591 (7th Cir. 2015) (quotation omitted)—or “intentionally or 

recklessly with[holds] material facts,” Whitlock v. Brown, 596 

F.3d 406, 410 (7th Cir. 2010). 

Proving a violation alone, however, is not sufficient for liability. Police officers sued under § 1983, like Sgt. Grizzle, are 

entitled to qualified immunity unless: “(1) they violated a federal statutory or constitutional right, and (2) the unlawfulness 

of their conduct was clearly established at the time.” PiernerLytge v. Hobbs, 60 F.4th 1039, 1044 (7th Cir. 2023) (quoting District of Columbia v. Wesby, 583 U.S. 48, 62–63 (2018)). If either 

of the two prongs is not met, the officer cannot be personally 

liable. Id. We have discretion to decide which of the prongs 

we address first. Id. 
No. 23-2905 9 

We can resolve this issue under prong one: Sgt. Grizzle 

made no reckless, knowing, or intentional misrepresentation 

or omission in the warrant application. Socha contends that 

Sgt. Grizzle did so by misrepresenting the need to search such 

a broad variety of data and omitting from the application that 

it was possible to limit the search of her phone to only her text 

messages. But Sgt. Grizzle made no such misrepresentation 

and need not have mentioned the latter possibility. First, Sgt. 

Grizzle told the state court what he needed to search for (a 

single text message), where it could be found (the data on Socha’s phone related to electronic communications), and that 

forensic software could be used to recover deleted data. In doing so, he gave the reasons why, at the time, he perceived the 

need for a broad warrant, especially because of the risk that 

the data had been deleted. See Wayne R. LaFave, 2 Search & 

Seizure § 4.6(d) (6th ed. 2020) (“As electronic data can be hidden in multiple formats and places in a cell phone, ... it can 

be difficult for officers to specify in advance the sections of the 

device that should be searched.”). There is no claim that Sgt. 

Grizzle lied about what he was searching for or where it 

might be found, and it is only “[w]ith the benefit of hindsight” 

that we know that his description of the places to be searched 

was broader than necessary. Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U.S. 79, 

85 (1987). But “we must judge the constitutionality of [his]

conduct in light of the information available to [him] at the 

time [he] acted.” Id. Accordingly, expressing a need for a 

broad warrant was not a misrepresentation merely because, 

in retrospect, its breadth was unnecessary. Cf. Edwards v. Jolliff-Blake, 907 F.3d 1052, 1057 (7th Cir. 2018) (“In determining 

whether probable cause existed, ‘we look only at what the officer knew at the time he sought the warrant, not at how 

things turned out in hindsight.’”) (quotation omitted). 
10 No. 23-2905 

Second, it is not a culpable omission to fail to state the obvious, ever-present possibility that the search could have been 

more limited. Warrants limit a search’s scope by: (1) specifically describing the “area that can be searched”; and (2) particularly articulating the “items that can be sought” in the 

search. Birchfield v. North Dakota, 579 U.S. 438, 469 (2016). The 

latter is a limitation on the former. See United States v. Mann, 

592 F.3d 779, 782 (7th Cir. 2010) (“The description of items to 

be seized limits the scope of the search to areas where those 

items are likely to be discovered.”). For example, a warrant to 

search an RV for a handgun would necessarily permit a 

search to extend to more areas than would a search for a refrigerator. But, in the second situation, it cannot be a constitutional violation to omit from the warrant application that it 

was possible to limit the search to areas in the RV where a 

refrigerator might be found: that possibility is apparent because it is necessarily implied by the specific identification of 

the item sought. So too, here, Sgt. Grizzle identified the item 

he was seeking and the area he was searching; thus, he need 

not have stated that the search could be limited to her text 

messages because, in representing that he sought a text message, he made such a possibility obvious. In other words, because he specifically identified what he was looking for and 

where he was looking, Sgt. Grizzle made no culpable omission solely because he could have stated that it was possible

to search a more limited area. 

B 

In raising the foregoing argument, Socha’s real complaint

is about the breadth of the warrant, and we share her concerns. “The Fourth Amendment requires that warrants be 

supported by probable cause and that they describe with 
No. 23-2905 11 

particularity the places and objects to be searched and 

seized.” United States v. Vizcarra-Millan, 15 F.4th 473, 502 (7th 

Cir. 2021). This particularity requirement ensures that a 

search’s scope is supported by probable cause: that each area 

sought to be searched is likely to yield evidence of the crime. 

See id. Another limit on the scope of a warrant is the crime 

under investigation, which “cabins the things being looked 

for” to items that could be evidence of that crime. United States 

v. Bishop, 910 F.3d 335, 337 (7th Cir. 2018). These principles

apply to searches of electronic devices, including computers,

Mann, 592 F.3d at 782, and cell phones, Bishop, 910 F.3d at 336–

37, which are like computers in function and storage capacity, 

see Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373, 393 (2014). Particularity is 

of substantial importance in the context of cell phones (and 

other, similar electronic devices) because, “[w]ith all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans 

‘the privacies of life.’” Id. at 403 (quotation omitted). 

Given the stakes of cell phone searches, laid bare by what 

happened to Socha, we remind police of their obligation to be 

specific and explain why there is probable cause to search

every part of a cell phone they seek to search. The warrant 

here, based on probable cause to search for a single text message, authorized searching “[a]ny and all data regarding electronic communications, including dates and times of those 

communications, digital images or videos, e-mail, voice mail, 

buddy lists, chat logs, instant messaging or text accounts” and 

more. This broad language would be proper if not for the fact 

that officers knew exactly what evidence they were looking 

for and, as a matter of common knowledge, where it might be 

found: a single text message in her text history. Cf. Bishop, 910 

F.3d at 336–38 (finding that a search warrant for “every file on 

[the defendant’s] phone” was not problematically broad 
12 No. 23-2905 

because “police did not know where on his phone” the defendant kept the evidence, which included ledgers and videos). 

Even if the search warrant was overbroad, though, we 

conclude that Grizzle is entitled to qualified immunity. 

Whether an officer protected by qualified immunity may be 

held personally liable depends on the “objective legal reasonableness” of the conduct in light of clearly established law. 

Messerschmidt v. Millender, 565 U.S. 535, 546 (2012) (quotation 

omitted). If an officer acted with “objective good faith” in believing the scope of a warrant was supported by probable 

cause, he cannot be held personally liable even if the warrant 

was unconstitutionally overbroad. See id. (quotation omitted); see also id. at 546 n.1 (“[T]he same standard of objective 

reasonableness” that applies in a suppression hearing, which 

includes consideration of the officer’s good faith, “‘defines the 

qualified immunity accorded an officer’ who obtained or relied on an allegedly invalid warrant.”) (quotation omitted). 

Sgt. Grizzle—by conferring with a prosecutor before applying for the warrant and relying on the judge’s issuance of 

the warrant—manifested an objective good faith belief that 

the search warrant’s scope was supported by probable cause. 

Before drafting the application, Sgt. Grizzle sought advice 

from a prosecutor, Lamken, on what to include in it, and, before submitting, sent her the application for her review and 

approval, which she provided. That is persuasive evidence 

that Sgt. Grizzle held an objective good faith belief that the 

scope of the warrant was supported by probable cause. Id. at 

553 (The fact that an officer “sought and obtained approval of 

the warrant application” from a prosecutor can support a 

“conclusion that an officer could reasonably have believed 
No. 23-2905 13 

that the scope of the warrant was supported by probable 

cause.”); Edmond v. United States, 899 F.3d 446, 456 (7th Cir. 

2018) (same). The “clearest indication” of his objective good 

faith is that a neutral magistrate issued the warrant. Millender, 

565 U.S. at 546. And he can rely on that issuance to show his 

good faith because the warrant was not “so lacking in indicia 

of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence 

unreasonable.” Taylor v. Hughes, 26 F.4th 419, 429 (7th Cir. 

2022) (quoting Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 345 (1986)). 

III

Turning to Socha’s intrusion upon seclusion claim, we review a grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the facts 

and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Socha, the 

non-movant. Doe v. Gray, 75 F.4th 710, 716 (7th Cir. 2023). 

Under Illinois law, to prevail on a claim of intrusion upon 

seclusion, a plaintiff must show: “(1) the defendant committed an unauthorized intrusion or prying into the plaintiff’s seclusion; (2) the intrusion would be highly offensive or objectionable to a reasonable person; (3) the matter intruded on 

was private; and (4) the intrusion caused the plaintiff anguish 

and suffering.” Spiegel v. McClintic, 916 F.3d 611, 618–19 (7th 

Cir. 2019) (quoting Busse v. Motorola, Inc., 813 N.E.2d 1013, 

1017 (Ill. App. Ct. 2004)). To satisfy the first element, a plaintiff 

must show the defendant “intentionally intrude[d].” Lawlor v. 

N. Am. Corp. of Ill., 983 N.E.2d 414, 424 (Ill. 2012) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652B (1977)). Because the City 

argues that Det. McKinney accessed the photo while training,

it effectively concedes that he was acting within the scope of 

his employment, so it is vicariously liable for his conduct, and 

Socha can raise his actions to support her claim. Powell v. City 

of Chicago, 197 N.E.3d 219, 223 (Ill. App. Ct. 2021). 
14 No. 23-2905 

The parties only dispute the first element—whether there 

was an unauthorized, intentional intrusion—so we express no 

opinion on whether the remaining elements were satisfied. 

Socha’s claim fails if: (1) Det. McKinney was authorized to access the photograph; or (2) McKinney did not access the photograph intentionally. The district court concluded that this 

claim failed because Det. McKinney opened the photograph 

inadvertently. But Socha has presented enough evidence for 

a jury to reject the City’s position that Det. McKinney was authorized and acted inadvertently, creating a genuine dispute 

of material fact that renders summary judgment on this claim 

inappropriate. 

A 

A defendant can show authorization by pointing to a state 

or federal statute countenancing the intrusion, see Schmidt v. 

Ameritech Ill., 768 N.E.2d 303, 313 (Ill. App. Ct. 2002)—but the 

City has pointed to no statute authorizing Det. McKinney’s 

conduct. The relationship between the intruder and the intruded-on party, such as employer-employee, can also provide authorization. See Mucklow v. John Marshall L. Sch., 531 

N.E.2d 941, 946 (Ill. App. Ct. 1988). In other words, the intruder can be authorized if he is acting in a “proper capacity” 

in committing the intrusion. Id. Or there can be authorization 

because the intruded-on party voluntarily gave up the information to the intruder, and the intruder is merely accessing 

its own records. See Dwyer v. Am. Express Co., 652 N.E.2d 1351, 

1354 (Ill. App. Ct. 1995) (“We cannot hold that a defendant 

has committed an unauthorized intrusion by compiling the 

information voluntarily given to it and then renting its compilation.”). Illinois courts have also articulated a general principle, divined from the latter two bases for authorization, that 
No. 23-2905 15 

“an organization’s review of its own records is not an unreasonable intrusion upon seclusion.” Schmidt, 768 N.E.2d at 313. 

The City argues that, because it, as an entity, was authorized to access Socha’s data pursuant to the search warrant, so 

too was Det. McKinney because his intrusion, as the City’s 

agent, was effectively just an organization reviewing its own 

records. But the City’s position cannot be squared with its 

own policy. The City assumes the relevant unit of analysis for 

the authorization question is not the agent committing the intrusion (Det. McKinney), but the organization being sued (the 

City). That cannot be the case when, as here, there is an explicit policy restricting access (and thereby authorization) to 

certain agents within the organization. See Zahl v. Krupa, 850 

N.E.2d 304, 312 (Ill. App. Ct. 2006) (An agent’s authority 

arises solely from the “words and conduct of the alleged principal.”). Under JPD General Order 10-6, “[i]nvestigative case 

files shall only be accessible to law enforcement personnel at 

the discretion of the assigned investigator or an investigation 

supervisor.” The existence of this policy belies the contention 

that the mere securing of a warrant authorized Det. McKinney, as an agent of the City, to access Socha’s data. And there 

is no evidence of Sgt. Grizzle, the assigned investigator, or an 

investigation supervisor ever giving Det. McKinney access to 

Socha’s data such that he would be authorized under General 

Order 10-6. 

Det. McKinney, in being permitted access to Cellebrite 

generally or for training specifically, could have been authorized to access Socha’s data—but the record does not put this 

beyond dispute. There is evidence indicating that permission 

to access Cellebrite is sufficient to authorize access of all data 

therein. Det. German testified that Socha’s data on Cellebrite 
16 No. 23-2905 

was located where “nonauthorized people” could not access 

it. This implies that those who, like Det. McKinney, were allowed to use Cellebrite were authorized to access Socha’s 

data. The City also adduced evidence that Det. McKinney was 

permitted, and even encouraged, to access any and all files on 

Cellebrite during his training, so it could be that he was authorized to open Socha’s file because he was training. But 

there is evidence to the contrary, demonstrating that Det. 

McKinney had only limited authorization to access certain 

files within Cellebrite that did not include Socha’s. Det. 

Botzum attested that he had no way of securing Socha’s data 

so “only authorized personnel” could access it, suggesting 

that permission to access Cellebrite is not coextensive with authorization to access all the data contained therein. Det. 

McKinney also remarked that he had his own file on Cellebrite containing data from cases in which he was involved. 

So there is a suggestion that data he was authorized to access 

was segregated from other data in Cellebrite and thus that he 

was not authorized to access data beyond his folder. Simply, 

the evidence points in both directions, indicating both authorization and lack thereof, creating a genuine dispute that a jury 

must resolve. 

B 

No Illinois court has expressly identified a standard for 

what constitutes an intentional intrusion. But given the Illinois Supreme Court’s reliance on the Second Restatement of 

Torts in defining intrusion upon seclusion, the Restatement’s 

definition of intent is a useful guide. It defines intent as when 

an “actor desires to cause consequences of his act, or that he 

believes that the consequences are substantially certain to result from it.” Restatement (Second) of Torts § 8A (1965). 
No. 23-2905 17 

Our sister circuits, applying this definition, have concluded that an actor commits an intentional intrusion if he 

“believes, or is substantially certain, that he lacks the necessary legal or personal permission to commit the intrusive act.” 

Dubbs v. Head Start, Inc., 336 F.3d 1194, 1221 (10th Cir. 2003) 

(quoting Fletcher v. Price Chopper Foods of Trumann, Inc., 220 

F.3d 871, 876 (8th Cir. 2000)); O’Donnell v. United States, 891 

F.2d 1079, 1083 (3d Cir. 1989) (same). And courts in other 

states that follow the Second Restatement describe intentional 

intrusion similarly, if not identically. Parnoff v. Aquarion Water 

Co. of Conn., 204 A.3d 717, 732 (Conn. App. Ct. 2019); see also 

Mauri v. Smith, 929 P.2d 307, 311 (Or. 1996) (“[A]n actor commits an intentional intrusion if the actor either desires to cause 

an unauthorized intrusion or believes that an unauthorized 

intrusion is substantially certain to result from committing 

the invasive act in question.”). 

Accordingly, the question is whether Det. McKinney believed or was substantially certain that, by opening the photograph, he would be accessing Socha’s data without authorization. The City argues that Det. McKinney accessed the photograph inadvertently. Its story is that Det. McKinney, as part 

of his informal training on Cellebrite, was indiscriminately 

browsing through investigative files on the Cellebrite computer to familiarize himself with the system and happened, 

accidentally, upon Socha’s photograph. 

But viewing the facts and drawing all reasonable inferences in Socha’s favor, as we must, there is a genuine dispute 

regarding Det. McKinney’s intent. While the City may ultimately prevail, that is not the question at summary judgment. 

Rather, we ask if there is sufficient evidence on which a reasonable jury could find for Socha. Parker v. Brooks Life Sci., Inc., 
18 No. 23-2905 

39 F.4th 931, 936 (7th Cir. 2022). And a jury, faced with evidence diminishing the credibility of the City’s story, could reject the City’s narrative and conclude that Det. McKinney accessed Socha’s photograph intentionally. 

First, the location where Socha’s data was saved could 

suggest that Det. McKinney did not act inadvertently. Det. 

Botzum saved Socha’s extraction in a file with a name that 

was not identifiable with Socha, and he testified that the file 

was saved where “no one should be able to find [it]” and 

where “a normal person or a normal detective would not go.”

Det. McKinney may not have been a “normal detective” because he was not using Cellebrite to investigate a case; instead, he was perusing files in cases he was not assigned. But 

the file being saved somewhere making it difficult to locate 

diminishes the likelihood that Det. McKinney stumbled upon 

it accidentally. In other words, to a reasonable jury, Det. 

McKinney being able to find this hard-to-locate file suggests 

that he was looking for it specifically, rather than simply perusing files aimlessly. 

Second, the media folders in the Cellebrite system have 

thumbnails previewing the contents of a file. So Det. McKinney may have seen that the media in the folder was Socha’s, 

yet accessed the photograph anyway. Per his testimony, after 

he opened Socha’s explicit photograph, Det. McKinney exited 

out from it and then clicked on the next photograph which 

showed her face. He noted that, before clicking on the next 

photograph, there was a “small thumbnail” that “looked like 

it had someone’s face.” Presumably, however, Det. McKinney 

could see the thumbnails before he clicked on the explicit photograph. The thumbnails might have been too small for him 

to identify the contents of the images precisely. But, at the 
No. 23-2905 19 

very least, it is a reasonable inference that Det. McKinney saw 

previews of images indicating that the file contained Socha’s 

data and therefore intentionally opened her photograph.

Last, and most damning to the City’s narrative, is Det. 

McKeon’s testimony that, upon seeing the photograph, Det. 

McKinney immediately assumed it depicted Socha without 

any other identifying information. This statement is consistent with the foregoing evidence of the file’s hard-to-find 

location and the thumbnails showing that the media in the 

folder belonged to Socha. Even taken on its own, Det. 

McKeon’s testimony is highly indicative that Det. McKinney 

knew he was accessing Socha’s data before he opened the 

photograph and thus did so intentionally. 

While there are conceivable, innocent explanations for 

why Det. McKinney assumed the photograph might be Socha’s, they are not ironclad, and a reasonable jury could reject 

them. First, there were rumors of explicit material on Socha’s 

phone. But Det. McKinney did not recall when he became 

aware of these rumors. Thus, it is a reasonable inference that 

he did not know of the rumors before viewing Socha’s photograph—and, if that is the case, the rumors could not explain 

his assumption. Second, he could have known there was an 

ongoing investigation of Socha involving a message from her 

phone, which would explain why he presumed this extracted 

phone data was Socha’s. But Det. McKinney could not recall 

if he was aware of the investigation at the time he saw the 

photograph. And, notably, Det. McKeon was not aware of the 

investigation at the time, even though Sgt. Grizzle was his supervisor, suggesting not many JPD members knew of it. In 

sum, while the City may ultimately explain why Det. McKinney assumed the naked torso was Socha’s, his assumption, 
20 No. 23-2905 

along with the evidence described above, suffices to raise a 

genuine dispute as to Det. McKinney’s intent, rendering the 

grant of summary judgment improper. 

C 

The City urges that it is immune from Socha’s intrusion 

upon seclusion claim under the Illinois Local Governmental 

and Governmental Employee Tort Immunity Act. 745 ILCS 

10/2-107. It is not. The Act provides: “A local public entity is 

not liable for injury caused by any action of its employees that 

is libelous or slanderous or for the provision of information 

either orally, in writing, by computer or any other electronic 

transmission ....” Id. We read “provision of information” to 

immunize conduct that involves some dissemination of information. First, the Act explains that cities are immune for 

providing information “orally, in writing, by computer or any 

other electronic transmission,” so there must be some degree 

of communication of information. Second, it refers to “libelous or slanderous” conduct, which requires publication for liability. Green v. Rogers, 917 N.E.2d 450, 459 (Ill. 2009). 

By its own terms, then, the Act cannot apply here: Socha’s 

intrusion upon seclusion claim does not require her to show 

any “provision of information.” Rather, her claim depends 

wholly on Det. McKinney accessing her information, not disseminating information. True, the Act has been applied to 

provide immunity for invasion of privacy torts. See, e.g., Logan v. City of Evanston, No. 20-cv-1323, 2020 WL 6020487 (N.D. 

Ill. Oct. 12, 2020). But courts have only applied the Act to privacy claims that require a plaintiff to show the defendant publicized, and thereby provided, information. For example, in 

Ramos v. City of Peru, 775 N.E.2d 184 (Ill. App. Ct. 2002), an 

Illinois court affirmed a finding that the Act rendered a city 
No. 23-2905 21 

immune to a false light invasion of privacy claim, id. at 188, 

which requires giving sufficient publicity to information, Lovgren v. Citizens First Nat’l Bank of Princeton, 534 N.E.2d 987, 990 

(Ill. 1989) (stating the elements of false light invasion of privacy). There is no such requirement or analogous requirement for an intrusion upon seclusion claim, so the Act is inapplicable to it. 

IV

Having affirmed the dismissal of Socha’s § 1983 claim but 

rejected the dismissal of her intrusion upon seclusion claim, 

we briefly address the issue of supplemental jurisdiction. Socha’s § 1983 claim was within the district court’s original subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, meaning that 

the court could exercise supplemental jurisdiction over her intrusion upon seclusion claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). But 

when, as here, “federal claims drop out of the case, leaving 

only state-law claims, the district court has broad discretion 

to decide whether to keep the case or relinquish supplemental 

jurisdiction over the state-law claims.” Rongere v. City of Rockford, 99 F.4th 1095, 1106 (7th Cir. 2024) (quotation omitted). 

We trust the district court, on remand, to decide whether 

to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Socha’s intrusion 

upon seclusion claim. See Williams Elecs. Games, Inc. v. Garrity, 

479 F.3d 904, 906–08 (7th Cir. 2007) (affirming a decision to 

relinquish supplemental jurisdiction over a state law claim remanded to the district court for a new trial after upholding

the dismissal of the federal claims). In making this determination, the court “should weigh the factors of judicial economy, 

convenience, fairness, and comity.” Rongere, 99 F.4th at 1106. 

AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED