Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Utah

Personal Privacy Invation

Last week, for a Valentines present, my wife took a few personal pictures of herself for me. The pictures did not contain any nudity or were not of any pornographic nature, they where just personal pictures that she wanted to share with and only with me, her husband. Upon returning to the company where she had the photos developed she noticed many of the pictures lying out in the open and in larger than normal print. She also heard comments such as, ''Here she comes.'', ''Is that her.'', ''I wished my wife looked like that'', and so on. To say the least my wife was very embarrassed and felt very violated. To sum up my question. What is the best way to take care of this so that it never happens again to anyone, it was with a large national company, and how can my wife be compensated for her humiliation and violation of her privacy?


Asked on 2/21/01, 12:59 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alvin Lundgren Alvin R. Lundgren, L.C.

Re: Personal Privacy Invation

Sue the company who prepared the extra copies for breach of her privacy and breach of contract. The contract for the company to develop the photos does not give them the right to unlicensed use of the photos. Any emotional damages she suffered can be compensated, and you may be entitled to punitive damages. The bad news is that it is difficult to prove emotional damages unless your wife talked to a medical care provider shortly after the event to obtain counseling or at least to describe her emotional paid.

The judge/jury will be looking for events which "shock the conscience and provide a sense of outrage." In this case, if the photos were in plain sight of other customers, there may be sufficient "outrage" to make a case before a jury. This problem is prevalent enought that you may have a good chance of making a case.

If you file your case, there is also a good chance that the company would want to settle rather than create a public relations problem. The other side of the coin is that the subject photos might be part of a trial.

Please call if you want to discuss this matter.

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Answered on 4/04/01, 10:24 am


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