Court Opinion

ID: 9587601
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:24:12.708154+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:05.979166
License: Public Domain

Townsend, J.,
concurring specially on rehearing. In view of the very strong motion to rehear in this case, the writer has again examined the authorities for and against the maintenance of such an action, and is still of the opinion that, although the majority of decisions in other States are to the contrary, the spirit and intent of Georgia law on the subject of the right to sue in tort for an invasion of the right of privacy is sufficiently broad to cover a case such as is made here. I do not think this rule of law should be given lip service only. Coercive action which tends to limit the free choice of an individual in resisting what he feels to be an unjust claim for money upon him is reprehensible, and there have been many times in this State where employment was so scarce that to threaten an employee with discharge was equivalent to threatening him with starvation. The only reason a creditor or a collection agency acting as its agent can have for contacting an employer in regard to an alleged debt of the employee is that the creditor hopes by such means to enlist pressure in his behalf against such employee. It is well known that many employers have a policy, in order to protect themselves from the trouble incident to a garnishment proceeding, of discharging employees whose wages are garnished. Others may go farther, and *55command, the debt to be paid on pain of dismissal. Such pressures tend to prevent alleged debtors from having their defenses tried out in a court of law, the purpose and function of which is to protect against unjust claims. Until the issue is tried out, this court cannot say whether the claim is just or unjust. The debtor, under the decision in Whitley v. Newman, 9 Ga. App. 89 (70 S. E. 686) has no recourse under the libel laws because under these statutes “statements made in good faith to effect a collection of an indebtedness justly due are privileged.”
Code § 105-103 provides: “When the law requires one to do an act for the benefit of another, or to forbear the doing of that which may injure another, though no action be given in express terms, upon the accrual of damage the injured party may recover.” Code § 3-105 provides: “For every right there shall be a remedy, and every court having jurisdiction of the one may, if necessary, frame the other.” I see a vast distinction between this case and that of Davis v. General Finance & Thrift Corp., 80 Ga. App. 708 (57 S. E. 2d 225), in that the communication there was directly to the debtor from the creditor via telegram, and “a publication to a few employees of a telegraph company who are not alleged to be acquainted with the alleged injured party would not offend the sensibilities of a person who has gone into debt and subjected himself to the standard communications of a civilized society.” Employees of a corporation dealing only in means of communication, not alleged to be in a position to exert pressure on the debtor, are not primarily concerned and in the proper exercise of their duties should not be influenced by communications to others passing through their hands. An employer, appealed to directly for the purpose of getting him to exercise pressure, and who is capable of exercising pressure, on an employee, is intended to be and in the natural course of events often will be influenced by such communication. Therein lies the difference. That the statement is not libelous will not prevent it from being tortious if it in fact constitutes an invasion of the rights of the person concerned, the debtor. As against demurrer, this fact affirmatively appears, and the petition therefore sets forth a cause of action. The amount of damages claimed is not the subject of consideration here as there is no demurrer on that ground, but *56it might be well to point out that as to damages the rule stated in the Davis case, supra, would apply, to' the effect that “the alleged violation must be tested on the basis of the innocence and good faith of the actor and the truth of the communication or publication.”