Four types of invasion of privacy are generally recognized: (1) appropriation of plaintiff’s name and likeness for a defendant’s advantage; (2) intrusion upon a plaintiff’s seclusion, solitude or private affairs; (3) public disclosure of embarrassing private facts about a plaintiff; and (4) publicity that places a plaintiff in a false light in the public eye.

North Carolina has recognized two of the four types of invasion of privacy, specifically, invasion of privacy by the unauthorized appropriation of a plaintiff’s photographic likeness for a defendant’s advantage as part of an advertisement or commercial enterprise and invasion of privacy by intrusion into the solitude or seclusion of another or into his private affairs. The tort of intrusion into the seclusion or solitude or private affairs of another can and does often arise in the family law context.

Elements of the Tort of Intrusion into the Seclusion, Solitude or Private Affairs of Another.

• 1. The intentional intrusion, physical or otherwise;
• 2. into the seclusion, solitude or private affairs of another:
• 3. where the intrusion is highly offensive to a reasonable person:
• 4. and the intrusion results in physical and/or emotional pain, anguish and suffering to the
  Plaintiff. A plaintiff can seek compensatory damages resulting from the unauthorized
  intrusion and punitive damages upon proof of aggravated conduct.

Specific examples of intrusion include physically invading a person’s home or other private place, eavesdropping by wiretapping or microphones, peering through windows, persistent telephoning, unauthorized prying into bank account and opening personal mail of another. Further, the unauthorized examination of the contents of one’s personnel file, especially where it includes sensitive information such as medical diagnoses and financial information can be the basis of a claim for invasion of privacy or where defendants placed a hidden video camera in an estranged husband’s bedroom which recorded pictures of him undressing, showering, and going to bed. In other jurisdictions, claims for invasion of privacy have been recognized in cases of sexual molestation of a child by a relative.

In North Carolina, by statute (N. C. Gen. Stat. § 52-5) A husband and wife have a cause of action against each other to recover damages sustained to their person or property as if they were unmarried. The statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit for invasion of privacy is three years from the date of the injury.

Contributor: Carole S. Gailor - Carole S. Gailor, a Raleigh Family Law Attorney is a leading North Carolina Divorce Lawyer. She is a Board Certified Family Law Specialist and a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Ms. Gailor is a founding partner with North Carolina Family Law Firm of Gailor, Wallis & Hunt, PLLC.

For more information contact the Raleigh, North Carolina Family Law Firm of Gailor, Wallis & Hunt at 1101 Haynes Street, Suite 201, Raleigh, NC 27604, Tel: 919-832-8488 or go to www.gailorwallishunt.com.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is intended as a general guide and is not to be used as legal advice by Gailor, Wallis & Hunt, PLLC. Whether or not you may be entitled to take action in regard to the information addressed in this article can only be determined after a thorough review of the facts and circumstances of your case by a qualified family law attorney.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Marital Torts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.