Opinion ID: 1719216
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Privacy as a Basis for Tort Action

Text: The first category concerns a wrongful intrusion into the privacy of another, which is remedied through civil tort action. The concept of a privacy tort originated with a phrase coined by Thomas M. Cooley: The right to one's person may be said to be a right of complete immunity: to be let alone.  T. Cooley, supra note 1, at 29 (emphasis added). Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis later applied this phrase to existing legal principles and developed the concept of the right of privacy. Warren & Brandeis, supra note 1. Presently, the [tort] law of privacy comprises four distinct kinds of invasion of four different interests of the plaintiff, which are tied together by the common name, but otherwise have almost nothing in common except that each represents an interference with the right of the plaintiff `to be let alone.' W. Prosser, supra note 1, at 804. The four interests are: (1) appropriation  the unauthorized use of a person's name or likeness to obtain some benefit; (2) intrusion  physically or electronically intruding into one's private quarters; (3) public disclosure of private facts  the dissemination of truthful private information which a reasonable person would find objectionable; and (4) false light in the public eye  publication of facts which place a person in a false light even though the facts themselves may not be defamatory. See id. at 802-18; Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 652B-652E (1976). This Court, following the majority rule, has expressly recognized a right to sue in tort for the civil wrong of invasion of privacy. Cason v. Baskin, 155 Fla. 198, 20 So.2d 243 (1944).