Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
I live in a condo (PUD to be exact) in northern California and sit on the Board of Directors. An angry homeowner recently went to the city offices and obtained a list of all construction permits pulled by a particular contractor. The list contained the addresses and status of all permit work, but it also contained the name of the homeowner as it appears on the title. A number of units are held in living trusts, some are in the name of only one of the residents, etc. The angry homeowner printed and distibuted the permit list, thus reavealing what I consider to be personal financial information. By identifying which units are part of a living trust, all viewers of her distibuted materials have access to personal financial information. I consider this an invasion of my privacy. Do I have any grounds for legal action?
3 Answers from Attorneys
First off, even if there was a legal wrong done, you do not have any right to assert the legal claims of others. We call this "lack of standing." Secondly, exactly how do you think that distributing a list of information contained in PUBLIC records can possibly be any violation of a person's privacy? It is information that you and the other homeowners have MADE PUBLIC. All the "angry homeowner" has done is made a compilation of information that you and the other homeowners have made a matter of PUBLIC record. There is nothing private about PUBLIC information.
I think you are making a big deal out of nothing. The fact that real property is in a trust can be ascertained from the County Recorder's Office and the Tax Assessor's Office, which is public information.
I agree with Mr. Roach and Mr. McCormick. The information you consider private was already public, so distributing it was not an invasion of your privacy. That is true even if the people who received it from your neighbor would not have found out about it otherwise.
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