Opinion ID: 298169
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Publication Count

Text: 25 Count Two of the complaint realleged by reference Paragraphs 1-8 inclusive of Count One 2 and alleged further in substance: The discovery by plaintiff on December 6, 1968, of defendant's plan to publish one of the pictures taken in her home in the February 1, 1969 issue of Vogue magazine, plaintiff's immediate demand that defendant publish none of the November 1, 1968 photographs taken in her home or any captions, headlines, articles, stories or editorial material relating to or arising out of the illegal entry of her home, (paragraph 10); the wrongful publication of one of said photographs by defendant in the February 1, 1969 issue of Vogue on page 50 in an article entitled from riches to wragge and jaguars, with knowledge of plaintiff's objection, (paragraph 11); and that thereby defendant wrongfully and maliciously invaded plaintiff's right of privacy, subjecting plaintiff to further mental and physical suffering. Again there was a demand for compensatory damages in excess of $1,000 and for punitive damages of $1,000,000. 26 At the trial, the defendant established that the subject photograph had been significantly altered prior to its publication, so much so that it was impossible to identify the photograph as having been taken in the plaintiff's home. Citing the absence of any identification of the plaintiff's home in the published picture, the defendant moved for a directed verdict after both sides announced closed and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict after the jury delivered its verdict calling for $5,000 compensatory and $50,000 punitive damages. After denial of both motions judgment was entered for these amounts, timely followed by this appeal. Our examination of the record and study of applicable authorities convince us that the trial judge erroneously denied these motions. He should have granted judgment n.o.v. and entered final judgment for Conde Nast as to both counts. 27 Any consideration of Florida's jurisprudence respecting right to privacy must commence with Cason v. Baskin, 1944, 155 Fla. 198, 20 So.2d 243. That landmark Florida decision held that the plaintiff's complaint, which alleged that a description of a character by the defendant sometimes known as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in her book Cross Creek was so intimate and accurate as to unmistakably identify the plaintiff to her friends, stated a cause of action for the tort of invasion of privacy. Harms v. Miami Daily News, Fla.D.C.A. 3rd, 1961, 127 So.2d 715, at page 718, makes it clear that the plaintiff has the burden in such an action to prove that she has been publicly identified as a prerequisite to recovery for invasion of privacy. In our case the absence of public identification of the plaintiff's home or possessions (as already indicated, all possibility of identification was carefully obliterated before publication) precludes recovery and should have mandated the granting of defendant's motions by the trial judge. Text writers on the subject generally agree with this view. Very simply put, the plaintiff may not recover for invasion of privacy when, as here, her privacy remains inviolate. Hanson, Libel and Related Torts, page 204 states: 28 As in defamation, there must be some reasonable grounds for concluding that it is the plaintiff whose privacy had been invaded. Thus, recovery has been denied for the publication of photographs of only plaintiff's home, or of other possessions, with no further reference to the plaintiff. However, it is not necessary to name or picture the plaintiff in order to make actionable reference to him, if sufficient identification is otherwise made. 29 Prosser, Law of Torts, Section 112, page 841, puts it as follows: 30 On the other hand there is no liability for the publication of a picture of his hand, leg or foot, or his house, his automobile or his dog, with nothing to indicate whose they are. 31 Finally, Hofstrader and Horowitz, in their The Right of Privacy, Section 5.7, page 44, state: 32 Though a person may feel it is an invasion of his privacy, the law is clear, that the right is not infringed by merely publishing a picture of something that belongs to him. Thus, it is not actionable to publish an interior scene of a person's dwelling house, or of his automobile or of his dog, if his own likeness is not included. 33 Federal courts in other jurisdictions consistently have recognized that lack of public identification of the plaintiff disqualifies the plaintiff from recovery for invasion of privacy. Branson v. Fawcett Publications, Inc., 124 F.Supp. 429 (E.D.Ill.1954); Young v. That Was the Week That Was, N.D. Ohio 1969, 312 F. Supp. 1337, aff'd 6 Cir. 1970, 423 F.2d 265, are examples. 34 We have carefully examined the record in this case including the photograph in evidence in an effort to determine if the plaintiff's home was identifiable in the picture published in Vogue magazine. Not only was the plaintiff's home rendered unidentifiable as a result of the defendant's retouching prior to publication, but even the picture of the chair in which the model was sitting was altered beyond recognition. 35 Our resolution of the identification issue makes it unnecessary for us to deal with the defendant's contention that the trial judge erred in submitting to the jury the appropriateness of punitive damages with respect to Count Two of the complaint. McLain v. Pensacola Coach Corp., 1943, 152 Fla. 876, 13 So.2d 221; Hutchinson v. Lott, Fla. 1st D.C.A. 1959, 110 So.2d 442. 36 One additional observation is in order. Counsel for Mrs. Rawls at oral argument and on brief seek to uphold the verdict for damages under Count Two by urging that the earlier physical intrusion (realleged in Count Two) made it unnecessary for publicity to be present or for identification to be possible to allow recovery, citing Fowler v. So. Bell Tel. & Tel. Co., 5 Cir. 1965, 343 F.2d 150, 156; Prosser on Torts, Sections 97 and 112, and Santiesteban v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., 5 Cir. 1962, 306 F.2d 9, 11, emphasizing generally that except in cases of physical intrusion the tort of invasion of privacy must be accompanied by publicity. The argument appears to be that Count Two was some sort of hybrid count involving both unlawful physical intrusion (or trespass) and invasion of privacy by publication of the picture. The argument we think is afterthought and demonstrably unsound. A major flaw in the contention is that the jury by its verdict as to Count One specifically found Conde Nast not guilty of the claimed intrusion. It cannot then be included in Count Two as a make-weight to escape the necessity of proving publicity. We view the incorporation into Count Two of the portions of Count One describing the claimed intrusion or trespass as having been done simply by way of inducement, setting the background, not as an effort to plead some sort of combined cause of action. The claim in Count Two is one for invasion of privacy by publication of the picture, and may not be enlarged into something else. Mrs. Rawls and her counsel read into the cited authorities much more than they stand for. 37 Fowler, supra, held that tapping a telephone (without plaintiff's knowledge or consent) amounts to an intrusion upon plaintiff's solitude as to which no publication of the overheard information is necessary under Georgia law, citing McDaniel v. Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 1939, 60 Ga.App. 92, 2 S.E. 2d 810. 38 In Santiesteban, which arose under Florida law we held that in absence of clear Florida precedent where a buyer of tires and tubes was current in his installment payments therefor, a claim was stated for recovery for invasion of privacy when it was alleged that agents of defendant tire company seller removed the tires and tubes from the car without complaint or notice to buyer and left the car standing on its rims in full view of buyer's fellow employees and others, and that legal certainty for want of jurisdictional amount was lacking where buyer sought more than $10,000 as punitive damages and as compensatory damages for embarrassment, humiliation and wounded feelings for two sleepless nights and medication as well as loss of use of the car. The statement quoted from Santiesteban is lifted out of context and is no support for Mrs. Rawls' position. 39 Reversed and rendered as to The Conde Nast Publications, Inc.'s appeal; affirmed as to cross-appeal of Betty B. Rawls.