1. Two children, Sam and Jane Smith, ages 9 and 10, are murdered in their home. Next door live two children, Allen and Joyce Jones, ages 11 and 12, who were friends of the murdered children.
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3. On the day the murders took place, and while the Jones children still were unaware of the murders, Jake Johnson, a reporter for KXYZ-TV, came to the door of the Joneses' home. Johnson asks the younger Jones child if he can come in. The child says, "No." Johnson steps inside the door, and opens the door wider so the camera operator, standing on the sidewalk, can shoot into the house.
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5. With the camera rolling, Johnson asked the Jones children about the Smith family next door. Johnson knew that no adult was home in the Joneses' house at the time. Johnson told Allen and Joyce that the Smiths' mother had killed her children and then herself. The Jones children were visibly distraught. The television camera caught their horrified expressions. Johnson then continued interviewing Allen and Joyce about the Smith family, recording the interview on videotape.
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7. During the interview, Joyce Jones revealed that her mother and the Smith children's mother had been seeing the same psychiatrist "because they were unhappy and depressed." This was true, although Ms. Sally Jones, Allen's and Joyce's mother, had told no one but her immediate family. Joyce also said that her mother would "cry her eyes out" when she heard about what happened to the Smiths. That portion of Joyce's interview was not aired. Johnson did not interview nor see any other member of the Jones family, nor any member of the Smith family.
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9. The tape was edited to a two-minute segment and run on KXYZ's 10 p.m. news program. At the end of his report on the 10 p.m. news program, Johnson stated, "And by day's end, Sally Jones wept uncontrollable tears."
10. Sally Jones, for herself and her children, comes to you, as her attorney, and wants to sue KXYZ and Jake Johnson for every privacy tort possible. Please explain to her what the likelihood will be to win on each tort, and why.
11. There are 4 Privacy Torts you are concerned with:
12. False light: intentionally or recklessly publicizing false info a reasonable person would find highly offensive.
13. Appropriation: using another's name or likeness for advertising or other commercial purposes without permission. 
14. Intrusion (by trespass): intentionally intruding on another's solitude or seclusion.
15. Private facts: publicizing private, embarrassing information
16. In answering this assignment, you need to look at the elements listed for the 4 privacy torts listed in your book and this Module. Then tell whether the fact pattern above meets all the elements for each of the 4 torts, if certain elements could go either way or if the fact pattern does not support the elements.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Analysis of the Privacy Torts 1 False Light Elements Intentionally or recklessly publicizing false information Information that a reasonable person wo... View the full answer