Opinion ID: 615185
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: constitutional right to privacy under the fourteenth amendment

Text: The United States Constitution does not mention an explicit right to privacy and the United States Supreme Court has never proclaimed that such a generalized right exists. C.N. v. Ridgewood Bd. of Educ., 430 F.3d 159, 178 (3d Cir.2005). But see Sterling v. Borough of Minersville, 232 F.3d 190, 193 (3d Cir.2000) (stating that the Supreme Court acknowledged the individual's constitutional right to privacy in Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965)). The Supreme Court, however, has found certain constitutional zones of privacy. C.N., 430 F.3d at 178 (citing Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 152-53, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973)). From these zones of privacy, we have articulated two types of privacy interests rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment. Nunez v. Pachman, 578 F.3d 228, 231 n. 7 (3d Cir.2009); see also Malleus v. George, 641 F.3d 560, 564 (3d Cir.2011); C.N., 430 F.3d at 178. The first privacy interest is the individual interest in avoiding disclosure of personal matters, and the second is the interest in independence in making certain kinds of important decisions. C.N., 430 F.3d at 178; see also Malleus, 641 F.3d at 564; Hedges v. Musco, 204 F.3d 109, 121 (3d Cir.2000). The first privacy interest is at issue in this matter. `The right not to have intimate facts concerning one's life disclosed without one's consent' is `a venerable [right] whose constitutional significance we have recognized in the past.' C.N., 430 F.3d at 179 (quoting Bartnicki v. Vopper, 200 F.3d 109, 122 (3d Cir.1999)). Justice Brandeis, in dissent, famously referred to this as the right to be let alone. Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478, 48 S.Ct. 564, 72 L.Ed. 944 (1928) (Brandeis, J., dissenting). The touchstone of constitutional privacy protection is whether the information at issue is within an individual's reasonable expectations of confidentiality. Malleus, 641 F.3d at 564; see also C.N., 430 F.3d at 179; Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 5 v. City of Phila., 812 F.2d 105, 112 (3d Cir.1987) ( Fraternal Order of Police ). The more intimate or personal the information, the more reasonable the expectation is that it will remain confidential. Fraternal Order of Police, 812 F.2d at 112-13 (citing United States v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 638 F.2d 570, 577 & n. 5 (3d Cir.1980)); see also Malleus, 641 F.3d at 564; C.N., 430 F.3d at 179. Indeed, the federal constitution ... protects against public disclosure [of] only highly personal matters representing the most intimate aspects of human affairs, thereby shielding from public scrutiny only that information which involves deeply rooted notions of fundamental personal interests derived from the Constitution. Nunez, 578 F.3d at 232 (emphasis omitted) (citation and quotation marks omitted). We have found the following types of information to be protected: a private employee's medical information that was sought by the government; medical, financial and behavioral information relevant to a police investigator; a public employee's prescription record; a minor student's pregnancy status; sexual orientation; and an inmate's HIV-positive status. Malleus, 641 F.3d at 565 (citing cases and explaining that information encompassed by the constitutional right to privacy may be separated into categories reflecting sexual, medical and some financial information). Although the issue of whether one may have a constitutionally protected privacy interest in his or her partially clothed body is a matter of first impression in this circuit, other circuitsincluding the Second, Sixth and Ninth Circuitshave held that such a right exists. See, e.g., Poe v. Leonard, 282 F.3d 123, 136-39 (2d Cir.2002) (finding that plaintiff, a female civilian who was participating in a police training video, alleged sufficient facts to raise a triable issue of whether her constitutional right to privacy was violated where the male police officer surreptitiously filmed her in the dressing room while topless and without a bra); York v. Story, 324 F.2d 450, 454-56 (9th Cir.1963) (finding that the plaintiff properly stated a claim for a violation of her constitutional right to privacy where she alleged that, while reporting a sexual assault, a male police officer deceived her into permitting him to photograph her genitals and exposed breasts under the pretext of an investigation), cert. denied, 376 U.S. 939, 84 S.Ct. 794, 11 L.Ed.2d 659 (1964); Brannum v. Overton Cnty. Sch. Bd., 516 F.3d 489, 497-98 (6th Cir.2008) (finding a privacy violation where a middle school's surveillance cameras recorded the plaintiff students in their undergarments while in the school locker room). [5] Privacy claims under the Fourteenth Amendment necessarily require fact-intensive and context-specific analyses, and unfortunately, bright lines generally cannot be drawn. The difficulty in drawing a bright line is evident as we are not aware of any court of appeals that has adopted either a requirement that certain anatomical areas of one's body, such as genitalia, must have been exposed for that person to maintain a privacy claim under the Fourteenth Amendment or a rule that a nonconsensual exposure of certain anatomical areas constitutes a per se violation. See, e.g., Poe, 282 F.3d at 136-39 (conducting a context-specific analysis); York, 324 F.2d at 454-56 (same); Brannum, 516 F.3d at 493-500 (same but in the Fourth Amendment context). We likewise refuse to draw bright lines based on anatomical parts or regions. Accordingly, we must analyze the specific circumstances under which the alleged violation occurred. We conclude that Doe had a reasonable expectation of privacy while in the Decontamination Area, particularly while in the presence of members of the opposite sex. [6] The Decontamination Area is a large showering facility, and Doe permitted only Joyce, a female deputy, to enter for the purpose of combing Doe's hair in an effort to remove any remaining fleas. Upon entering the Decontamination Area, Joyce closed the heavy wooden door to shield Doe's privacy but could not lock it because the door had no locking mechanism. The record, viewed in the light most favorable to Doe, does not support the assertion that Doe expressly or implicitly consented to Bobbouine and Foy's opening the door or filming the events inside the Decontamination Area. In fact, Doe testified that she was unaware that Bobbouine and Foy were observing her until Bobbouine spoke, and that she repeatedly asked Bobbouine and Foy to leave the Decontamination Area to no avail. Joyce then closed the Decontamination Area's door to again shield Doe's privacy. Doe clearly had a reasonable expectation of privacy while in the Decontamination Area under these circumstances. [7] Our analysis must then turn to whether Doe's exposure meets the lofty constitutional standard of the most intimate aspects of human affairs that involve deeply rooted notions of fundamental personal interests. Nunez, 578 F.3d at 232. Because material facts remain in dispute, we are unable to answer that question at this time. A dispute of material fact exists as to which of Doe's body parts were exposed to members of the opposite sex and/or filmed while she was in the Decontamination Area. County Defendants assert that only Doe's back, shoulders arms and legs were exposed, and that at no time were Doe's breasts or buttocks exposed. Doe has presented evidence, however, that her breasts and/or buttocks may have been exposed. Doe asserts that an unknown individual captured on the videotape allegedly stated that he could see Doe's boobies and told others to cover [Doe] up. Doe also presented evidence to support her claim that the paper sheet she used to cover her breasts and buttocks was see-through. This includes: an alleged statement made by Bobbouine and captured on video that he could see [Doe's] ass; Doe's testimony that the outline of her buttocks was visible through the wet paper; an alleged statement from an unknown individual captured on video stating that Doe had a big rip in her ass (it is unclear from the record whether this comment referred to Doe's body or the paper covering her body); and a statement from an unknown individual that Doe's tan lines were visible. Doe, as the nonmovant, is entitled to have all inferences viewed in the light most favorable to her. See, e.g., Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348. Under the circumstances before us, the issues of whether Doe's breasts or buttocks were exposed would affect the outcome of the suit and thereby are material. The analysis is not complete, however, because a person's right to avoid disclosure of personal matters is not absolute. See C.N., 430 F.3d at 179; Fraternal Order of Police, 812 F.2d at 110. Disclosure may be required if the government interest in disclosure outweighs the individual's privacy interest. Fraternal Order of Police, 812 F.2d at 110 (citing Trade Waste Mgmt. Ass'n v. Hughey, 780 F.2d 221, 234 (3d Cir.1985); Westinghouse Electric, 638 F.2d at 577). When making such a determination, we apply a flexible balancing test and consider the following factors: [1] the type of record requested, [2] the information it does or might contain, [3] the potential for harm in any subsequent nonconsensual disclosure, [4] the injury from disclosure to the relationship in which the record was generated, [5] the adequacy of safeguards to prevent unauthorized disclosure, [6] the degree of need for access, and [7] whether there is an express statutory mandate, articulated public policy, or other recognizable public interest militating toward access. C.N., 430 F.3d at 179-180 (quoting Westinghouse Electric, 638 F.2d at 578); see also Fraternal Order of Police, 812 F.2d at 110-11. On the record before us, the aforementioned factors overwhelmingly weigh in Doe's favor. The type of records at issue include photographs of Doe while she is partially dressed and an edited video of Doe that may include images of, among other things, Doe's exposed breasts and/or buttocks. The potential harm of nonconsensual disclosure is exacerbated by the existence of the Internet, where one can upload image and video files and irretrievably share them with the world in a matter of moments. Doe's alleged harm could be aggravated by the context of the disclosure, most notably the facts that the video of the events was shown to others within the workplace and that the alleged violations involved superior officers abusing their authority. The adequacy of safeguards to prevent unauthorized disclosure also favors Doe because there is evidence that Foy saved the Doe Files in a public computer folder, which Doe testified could have been viewed by anyone with access to the Luzerne County network. Finally, although factors 6 and 7 could arguably favor County Defendants based on their alleged need to create a training video of the decontamination process generally, it was not necessary for Bobbouine and Foy to observe or film Doe while she was partially clothed. Hospital scrubs were available but were not provided to Doe until after Bobbouine and Foy's alleged misbehavior in the Decontamination Area. [8] Accordingly, dismissing Doe's Fourteenth Amendment claim was error at this stage, and we will reverse and remand this matter to the District Court for further proceedings.