Opinion ID: 1550220
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Does The Complaint State A Cause Of Action For Invasion Of The Right Of Privacy?

Text: Plaintiff contends that defendant is guilty of a violation of his right of privacy. As we understand his argument, it is that as a result of the alleged invasion of his right of privacy, he has been injured in personal dignity and respect, in particular, the dignity and respect relating to the tradition and respect for his judicial office. Plaintiff further states that the fact that he is a public figure  if he should be so considered  does not destroy, ipso facto, his right of privacy. Recognizing that a newspaper article covering a legitimate news event falls within the scope of proper immunity pertaining to the publication of current news, plaintiff states that because of the manner of the presentation of this event, it becomes a question for the jury to say whether such article constitutes an unwarranted invasion of his right of privacy. In Delaware the question of existence of an action for the invasion of one's right of privacy has never been determined. We do not pass upon this question here, but assume, for the purpose of this opinion, that such right of action does so exist. The right of privacy has been defined generally as the unwarranted appropriation or exploitation of one's personality, the publicizing of one's affairs with which the public has no legitimate concern or the wrongful intrusion into one's private activities in such manner as to outrage or cause mental suffering, shame or humiliation to a person of ordinary sensibility. Continental Optical Co. v. Reed, 119 Ind. App. 643, 86 N.E.2d 306, 88 N.E.2d 55, 14 A.L.R.2d 743. We are frankly at a loss to see how, under the facts of this case, an action for the invasion of the right of privacy could exist. The general purpose of protecting the right of privacy relates to one's private life, not when that life has become a matter of legitimate public interest. McGovern v. Van Riper, 140 N.J.Eq. 341, 54 A.2d 469. In addition, there are a number of limitations to this right of action with which we are here concerned: the freedom of the press, matters of legitimate public interest, matters involving public figures, the `newsworthiness' of the article. The article in this case was a legitimate newspaper article concerning a statement made by plaintiff in a public hearing. It related very definitely to what at the time was a matter of great public interest: the revival of the use in certain cases of the whipping post in Delaware. Except for the unfortunate use of the word lashes and the incorrect attribution of the criticism to the Board as a whole, the occurrence was accurately and properly reported. Plaintiff is definitely a public figure engaged at the time for which this complaint is made in presiding over a public trial in which the public, especially the Commission, had a very decided interest. As previously stated, plaintiff was, or should have been, aware that such controversial remarks  even though made in the form of a rhetorical question  were bound to cause considerable adverse criticism. We do not think that the publication of the article in question constituted the invasion of any right of plaintiff, certainly not a private right such as is necessary to justify an action for the invasion of the right of privacy. Plaintiff seems to argue that the use of the word lashes and the attribution of the criticism of plaintiff to the whole Board, instead of to one of its members, places this case under a line of cases in which the facts of the article are so distorted and fictionalized as to constitute an invasion of the right of privacy for which action will lie. We do not see how this could possibly be so. Without referring specifically to the cases cited by plaintiff, it is sufficient to say that in those cases the facts were so distorted and fictionalized that they did not constitute in the truest sense a newspaper article at all but rather a fictionalized article such as sometimes appears in the magazine section of a Sunday newspaper or in one of those magazines specializing in stories of unsavory conduct on the part of persons who are unfortunate enough to be written up therein. Here the article was a legitimate news article concerning a remark by a Judge in his official capacity relating to a matter of great public interest. There is no merit to this contention. The judgment of the Superior Court will be affirmed.