Opinion ID: 853272
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Invasion of Rights of Privacy

Text: The extent to which the tort of invasion of privacy is recognized in Indiana is not yet settled. See Doe v. Methodist Hosp., 690 N.E.2d 681 (Ind.1997) (disagreement whether to recognize claim for public disclosure of private facts). However, as a general proposition, the tort of invasion of rights of privacy has taken four forms: (1) public disclosure of private facts, (2) intrusion, (3) appropriation, and (4) false light in the public eye. Ledbetter v. Ross, 725 N.E.2d 120, 123 (Ind.Ct.App. 2000). Of these four, it seems apparent that only the intrusion form of the tort could arguably apply. When the invasion of a plaintiff's right to privacy takes the form of intrusion, it consists of an intrusion upon the plaintiff's physical solitude or seclusion as by invading his home or conducting an illegal search. Cullison v. Medley, 570 N.E.2d 27, 31 (Ind.1991) (citing W. Prosser & J. Keaton, Prosser and Keaton on Torts § 117 (5th ed.1984)). Launching a missile onto a person's property may be a tort, but it is, in itself, not an invasion of privacy, however intrusive it may be. The entry of contaminants onto one's property is in the same category. It is a physical tort, and, except to the extent any tort is disturbing, has no component of disrupting an individual's repose. The Court of Appeals concluded that the term invasion of rights of privacy is ambiguous, and construed it against Allstate in finding that the term provided coverage for Dana. We agree that the term is shadowy, but for ambiguity to confer coverage, the covered item must be somewhere within the circle of ambiguity. Here, even the outermost reaches of the term's penumbra do not embrace a chemical transgression of the sort giving rise to Dana's environmental liability. Because the terms wrongful eviction and invasion of rights of privacy do not support Dana's claim for coverage, we reverse the trial court's grant of Dana's motion for partial summary judgment as to coverage for personal injury liability under those terms.