The key to winning an invasion of privacy lawsuit involves working closely with an experienced litigator who specializes in handling invasion of privacy cases. To prepare for an invasion of privacy lawsuit, your attorney follows several steps.
Identify the Type of Invasion
Invasion of privacy represents a broad legal term that needs to be narrowed down when litigating a civil case. You might successfully sue another party who has intruded on your expectation of privacy, such as shooting a video while you are at home or in another private setting where privacy is expected by every individual at the setting. Another party cannot shoot a video to use your name and likeness without your permission. This legal principle frequently applies to public figures that do not grant permission for the use of their celebrity status to make money.
Identifying the type of privacy invasion allows your attorney to devise a legal strategy that not only stops the invasion of your privacy but also allows you to sue for monetary damages for the negative consequences of losing your right to privacy.
Collect and Organize Evidence
To file a successful civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, your lawyer must acquire more than enough persuasive evidence that proves you suffered financial losses that were caused by an invasion of your privacy. Evidence can include photographs of the other party taking videos of you, as well as multiple witness accounts that verify your claim that you had your privacy violated by a video recording of your activities.
One of the most compelling pieces of evidence collected during a privacy violation lawsuit is the video shot of you. The video should give your attorney a convincing argument that you expected privacy because you were located in a private setting or in a public setting where privacy was considered to be universally accepted.
Apply State Law
Each state recognizes up to four forms of invasion of privacy legal principles. Your lawyer must identify the state statutes that qualify you to invoke the right to privacy under one or more of the privacy principles enacted at the state level. Although a majority of states recognize all four invasion of privacy principles that bolster the legal strength provided at the federal level, your state might not have established enough legal support for you to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.
Many of the states that do not accept all four of the legal principles that guide invasion of privacy cases allow plaintiffs to pursue other types of legal remedies. For example, North Carolina allows plaintiffs in privacy invasion cases to rely on the tort of intentional infliction to demonstrate the triggering of emotional distress. This legal tactic is particularly effective in privacy violation cases if the other party intentionally caused you harm by shooting an unauthorized video of your activities.
Document Everything
Because invasion of privacy cases usually do not involve physical harm, showing you deserve compensation for your pain and suffering can be difficult to do. Nonetheless, documenting how an invasion of your privacy harmed you by keeping a journal can help you recover financial losses. If you received mental and emotional therapy as the result of an invasion of your privacy, the documents created by your therapist can help you gain approval of monetary damages as the result of the filing of a civil lawsuit.
Decide on Legal Remedies
Although an invasion of your privacy can cause financial losses, receiving monetary damages is not the only recourse you have to penalize the party that took an unauthorized video. Many states allow you to file a civil lawsuit that includes punitive damages, which a judge awards to deter the defendant from committing the same act of invasion of privacy in the future. You also might be able to get an injunction against the defendant to stop taking unauthorized videos of you or anyone else.
If the defendant has made money by taking unauthorized videos of you, your lawyer might request that you receive all of the profits generated by the videos.
To determine whether you can “sue someone for taking a video of me,” schedule a free case evaluation today with one of the experienced attorneys at Morgan and Morgan.
