California First-Year Law Students' Exam (Baby Bar) — MCTortsHard
A celebrity chef, known for her secret recipes, was photographed by a paparazzi hiding in bushes outside her home, using a high-powered lens to capture images of her cooking in her private kitchen through a window. The photographs were later published in a tabloid magazine. Which privacy tort is the celebrity chef most likely to successfully allege against the paparazzi and tabloid?
- AAppropriation of Likeness
- BPublic Disclosure of Private Facts
- CFalse Light
- DIntrusion Upon Seclusion
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Intrusion Upon Seclusion
Intrusion upon seclusion occurs when someone intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another or their private affairs or concerns, where the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. The paparazzi's actions, using a high-powered lens to photograph the chef in her private kitchen through a window, clearly constitute such an intrusion.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Appropriation involves using someone's name or likeness for commercial advantage, which is not the primary focus here.
- B. Public Disclosure of Private Facts requires the disclosure of private facts, but the tort of intrusion focuses on the *method* of obtaining the information, regardless of whether it's later disclosed or truly 'private' in the disclosure sense.
- C. False Light involves portraying someone in a false and highly offensive light to the public, which is not what occurred; the photos were of her actual activity.
Intrusion Upon Seclusion
A privacy tort where one intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another or their private affairs or concerns, and the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
- Focuses on the act of gathering information, not necessarily its publication.
- Requires a reasonable expectation of privacy.
- The intrusion must be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
Memory trick: A-I-P-F: Approp-Intrude-Private-False.