Opinion ID: 1801890
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Offensiveness/Seriousness of the Privacy Intrusion

Text: Plaintiffs must show more than an intrusion upon reasonable privacy expectations. Actionable invasions of privacy also must be highly offensive to a reasonable person ( Shulman, supra, 18 Cal.4th 200, 231; see id. at p. 236), and sufficiently serious and unwarranted as to constitute an egregious breach of the social norms ( Hill, supra, 7 Cal.4th 1, 37). Defendants claim that, in finding a triable issue in this regard, the Court of Appeal focused too narrowly on the mere presence of a functioning camera in plaintiffs' office during the workday, and on the inchoate risk that someone would sneak into the locked storage room and activate the monitoring and recording devices. Defendants imply that under a broader view of the relevant circumstances, no reasonable jury could find in plaintiffs' favor and impose liability on this evidentiary record. We agree. (8) For guidance, we note that this court has previously characterized the offensiveness element as an indispensable part of the privacy analysis. It reflects the reality that [n]o community could function if every intrusion into the realm of private action gave rise to a viable claim. ( Hill, supra, 7 Cal.4th 1, 37.) Hence, no cause of action will lie for accidental, misguided, or excusable acts of overstepping upon legitimate privacy rights. ( Miller, supra, 187 Cal.App.3d 1463, 1483-1484.) In light of such pragmatic policy concerns (see Taus, supra, 40 Cal.4th 683, 737), a court determining whether this requirement has been met as a matter of law examines all of the surrounding circumstances, including the degree and setting of the intrusion and the intruder's `motives and objectives.' ( Shulman, supra, 18 Cal.3d 200, 236, quoting and following Miller, supra, 187 Cal.App.3d at pp. 1483-1484.) Courts also may be asked to decide whether the plaintiff, in attempting to defeat a claim of competing interests, has shown that the defendant could have minimized the privacy intrusion through other reasonably available, less intrusive means. ( Hill, supra, 7 Cal.4th at p. 38.)
This set of factors logically encompasses the place, time, and scope of defendants' video surveillance efforts. In this case, they weigh heavily against a finding that the intrusion upon plaintiffs' privacy interests was highly offensive or sufficiently serious to warrant liability. In context, defendants took a measured approach in choosing the location to videotape the person who was misusing the computer system. Evidently, plaintiffs' office was not the preferred spot. Hitchcock initially tried to capture the culprit in the computer laboratory. Based on the consistently high level of human traffic he described there, the laboratory apparently was far more accessible and less secluded than plaintiffs' office. The surveillance equipment was moved to the latter location only after Hitchcock determined it was too difficult to pinpoint who was using computers inappropriately in the open, more public laboratory setting. Defendants' surveillance efforts also were largely confined to the area in which the unauthorized computer activity had occurred. Once the camera was placed in plaintiffs' office, it was aimed towards Lopez's desk and computer workstation. There is no evidence that Hitchcock intended or attempted to include Hernandez's desk in camera range. We can reasonably infer he avoided doing so, because no improper computer use had been detected there. Likewise, access to the storage room and knowledge of the surveillance equipment inside were limited. A total of two people other than Hitchcock and Foster (Susanne Crummey and Stacey Brake) knew that the television/recorder was set up to monitor plaintiffs' office. Only one of them (Crummey) had a key to the lock on the storage room door. The spot was relatively remote and secure. Timing considerations favor defendants as well. After being moved to plaintiffs' office and the storage room, the surveillance equipment was operational during a fairly limited window of time. Hitchcock decided to remove the equipment (and plaintiffs coincidentally discovered it) a mere 21 days later, during which time no one had accessed Lopez's computer for pornographic purposes. We can infer from the undisputed evidence that Hitchcock kept abreast of his own monitoring activities, and did not expose plaintiffs to the risk of covert visual monitoring or video recording any longer than was necessary to determine that his plan would not work, and that the culprit probably had been scared away. Defendants' actual surveillance activities also were quite limited in scope. On the one hand, the camera and motion detector in plaintiffs' office were always plugged into the electrical circuit and capable of operating the entire time they were in place. On the other hand, Hitchcock took the critical step of connecting the wireless receptors and activating the system only three times. At most, he was responsible for monitoring and recording inside of plaintiffs' office an average of only once a week for three weeks. Such measures were hardly excessive or egregious. (Cf. Wolfson v. Lewis (E.D.Pa. 1996) 924 F.Supp. 1413, 1420 [electronic surveillance that is persistent and pervasive may constitute a tortious intrusion on privacy even when conducted in a public or semipublic place].) Moreover, on each of these three occasions, Hitchcock connected the wireless devices and allowed the system to remotely monitor and record events inside plaintiffs' office only after their shifts ended, and after they normally left Hillsides's property. He never activated the system during regular business hours when plaintiffs were scheduled to work. The evidence shows they were not secretly viewed or taped while engaged in personal or clerical activities. On the latter point, we agree with defendants that their successful effort to avoid capturing plaintiffs on camera is inconsistent with an egregious breach of social norms. For example, in a case closely on point, one court has held that even where an employer placed a camera in an area reserved for the most personal functions at work, such that heightened privacy expectations applied, the lack of any viewing or recording defeated the employee's invasion-of-privacy claim. (E.g., Meche v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (La.Ct.App. 1997) 692 So.2d 544, 547 [camera concealed in ceiling of restroom to prevent theft].) This circumstance also distinguishes plaintiffs' case from those we have discussed above, in which covert visual monitoring and video recording in an employment setting supported a viable intrusion claim. (E.g., Doe, supra, 945 F.2d 1422, 1424, 1427 [models' changing area]; Trujillo, supra, 428 F.Supp.2d 1094, 1100, 1119-1122 [police locker room]; Liberti, supra, 912 F.Supp. 1494, 1499 [dancers' dressing room].)
This case does not involve surveillance measures conducted for socially repugnant or unprotected reasons. (See, e.g., Shulman, supra, 18 Cal.4th 200, 237 [harassment, blackmail, or prurient curiosity].) Nor, contrary to what plaintiffs imply, does the record reveal the absence of any reasonable justification or beneficial motivation. The undisputed evidence is that defendants installed video surveillance equipment in plaintiffs' office, and activated it three times after they left work, in order to confirm a strong suspicion triggered by publicized network tracking measuresthat an unknown staff person was engaged in unauthorized and inappropriate computer use at night. Given the apparent risks under existing law of doing nothing to avert the problem, and the limited range of available solutions, defendants' conduct was not highly offensive for purposes of establishing a tortious intrusion into private matters. Our reasoning is as follows. For legitimate business reasons, employers commonly link their network servers to the Internet, and provide employees with computers that have direct access to the network and the Internet. ( Delfino v. Agilent Technologies, Inc. (2006) 145 Cal.App.4th 790, 805-806 [52 Cal.Rptr.3d 376] ( Delfino ) [noting trend over previous decade].) As this phenomenon has grown, employers have adopted formal policies regulating the scope of appropriate computer and Internet use. Such policies contemplate reasonable monitoring efforts by employers, and authorize employee discipline for noncompliance. (E.g., Delfino, supra, at p. 800, fn. 13 [authorizing discharge for transmitting any threatening, sexually explicit, or harassing item on company computers]; TBG Ins. Services Corp. v. Superior Court (2002) 96 Cal.App.4th 443, 446 [117 Cal.Rptr.2d 155] ( TBG ) [similar policy as to derogatory, defamatory, or obscene material, coupled with notice that company would monitor employee computer use]; TBG, at p. 451 [discussing American Management Association report stating that most large firms regulate and monitor employee Internet use]; cf. Chin et al., Cal. Practice Guide: Employment Litigation (The Rutter Group 2007) ¶ 5:782.5 et seq. [exploring limits on computer monitoring in workplace].) Despite efforts to control the problem, the potential for abuse of computer systems and Internet access in the workplace is wide-ranging. (See, e.g., Intel Corp. v. Hamidi (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1342, 1347 [1 Cal.Rptr.3d 32, 71 P.3d 296] [holding that employee did not commit tort of trespass to chattels by sending mass e-mails on employer's electronic system, but otherwise declining to exempt Internet messages from general rules of tort liability]; TBG, supra, 96 Cal.App.4th 443, 446-447 [employee terminated after repeatedly accessing pornographic Web sites on computer at work].) The consequences to employers may be serious. (E.g., Delfino, supra, 145 Cal.App.4th 790, 795-796, 800 [third parties sued employer on various counts after receiving vile threats that employee sent over Internet from work computer]; Monge v. Superior Court (1986) 176 Cal.App.3d 503, 506-507, 509 [222 Cal.Rptr. 64] [employee stated claims for discrimination, harassment, and punitive damages against employer who failed to investigate her complaints about receiving sexually offensive message from supervisors on her work computer].) Here, Hitchcock learned that the computer in plaintiffs' office was being used to access the Internet late at night, long after their shifts ended, by someone not authorized to use that equipment or office. Data recorded and stored inside the computer system itself convinced Hitchcock and the computer specialist, Foster, that the unauthorized user was viewing sexually explicit Web sites. Given the hour at which this unauthorized Internet activity occurred, Hitchcock strongly suspected that the responsible party was a program director or other staff person with keys and access to the administration building, which was otherwise locked at that hour. Such use of Hillsides's computer equipment by an employee violated written workplace policies circulated both before and after the challenged surveillance activities occurred. As those policies warned, and case law confirms, the offending conduct posed a risk that the perpetrator might expose Hillsides to legal liability from various quarters. At the very least, parties on both sides confirmed that accessing pornography on company computers was inconsistent with Hillsides's goal to provide a wholesome environment for the abused children in its care, and to avoid any exposure that might aggravate their vulnerable state. We also note that Hitchcock's repeated assurances that he installed the surveillance equipment solely to serve the foregoing purposes and not to invade plaintiffs' privacy are corroborated by his actions afterwards. When confronted by plaintiffs about the camera in their office, he explained its presence, and tried to assuage their concerns about being suspected of wrongdoing and secretly videotaped. To this end, he showed them the actual surveillance tape on demand and without delay. Against this backdrop, a reasonable jury could find it difficult to conclude that defendants' conduct was utterly unjustified and highly offensive. Plaintiffs argue that even assuming defendants acted to prevent a rogue employee from accessing pornography on Hillsides's computers, and to minimize a genuine risk of liability and harm, no claim or defense of justification has been established as a matter of law. Plaintiffs insist triable issues exist as to whether defendants could have employed means less offensive than installing the camera in their office and connecting it to the monitor and recorder nearby. Examples include better enforcement of Hillsides's log-off/password-protection policy, installation of software filtering programs, [10] closer nighttime monitoring of the camera outside the administration building, increased security patrols at night, and receipt of plaintiffs' informed consent to video surveillance. Contrary to what plaintiffs imply, it appears defendants are not required to prove that there were no less intrusive means of accomplishing the legitimate objectives we have identified above in order to defeat the instant privacy claim. In the past, we have specifically declined to impos[e] on a private organization, acting in a situation involving decreased expectations of privacy, the burden of justifying its conduct as the `least offensive alternative' possible under the circumstances. ( Hill, supra, 7 Cal.4th 1, 50 [invoking language and history of state constitutional privacy provision and relevant case authority]; accord, Sheehan, supra, 45 Cal.4th 992, 1002.) The argument lacks merit in any event. First, the alternatives that plaintiffs propose would not necessarily have achieved at least one of defendants' aimsdetermining whether a program director was accessing pornographic Web sites in plaintiffs' office. Rather, it is the same suspect group of program directors on whom plaintiffs would have had defendants more heavily rely to monitor exterior cameras and perform office patrols. Obtaining plaintiffs' consent also might have risked disclosing the surveillance plan to other employees, including the program directors. With respect to stricter regulation of employee computer use (software filters and log-off enforcement), such steps might have stopped the improper use of Lopez's computer. However, they would not have helped defendants identify the employee who performed such activity and who posed a risk of liability and harm in the workplace. (See Hill, supra, 7 Cal.4th 1, 50 [rejecting proposed alternatives as different in kind and character from challenged acts].) Second, for reasons suggested above, this is not a case in which sensitive information [was] gathered and feasible safeguards [were] slipshod or nonexistent. ( Hill, supra, 7 Cal.4th 1, 38.) Rather, privacy concerns are alleviated because the intrusion was limited and no information about plaintiffs was accessed, gathered, or disclosed. ( Ibid. ) As we have seen, defendants did not suspect plaintiffs of using their computers improperly, and sought to ensure that they were not present when any monitoring or recording in their office occurred. The video equipment was rarely activated and then only at night, when plaintiffs were gone. There was no covert surveillance of them behind closed doors.