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False light
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False light
In United States law, false light is a tort concerning privacy that is similar to the tort of defamation. The privacy laws in the U.S. include a non-public person's right to protection from publicity that creates an untrue or misleading impression about them. That right is balanced against the First Amendment right of free speech.
False light differs from defamation primarily in being intended "to protect the plaintiff's mental or emotional well-being", rather than to protect a plaintiff's reputation as is the case with the tort of defamation, and in being about the impression created rather than being about veracity. If a publication of information is false, then a tort of defamation might have occurred. If that communication is not technically false but is still misleading, then a tort of false light might have occurred.
False light privacy claims often arise under the same facts as defamation cases, and therefore not all states recognize false light actions. There is a subtle difference in the way courts view the legal theories: false light cases are about damage to a person's personal feelings or dignity, whereas defamation is about damage to a person's reputation.
The specific elements of the tort of false light vary considerably, even among those jurisdictions which do recognize this tort. Generally, these elements consist of the following:
Some U.S. state courts have ruled that false light lawsuits brought under their states' laws must be rewritten as defamation lawsuits; these courts generally base their opinion on the premises that a) any publication or statement giving rise to a false-light claim will also give rise to a defamation claim, such that the set of statements creating false light is necessarily, although not by definition, entirely within the set of statements constituting defamation; and b) the standard of what would be "highly offensive" or "embarrassing" to a reasonable person is much more difficult to apply than is the state's standard for defamation, such that the potential penalties for violating the former standard would have an unconstitutional or otherwise unacceptable chilling effect on the media. However, "most states do allow false light claims to be brought, even where a defamation claim would suffice." Some of the states do not recognize the false light claim due to the similarity between false light and defamation, as well as the possible impact on free speech. Some states that do recognize it will not allow a plaintiff to maintain suit for both false light and defamation.
In Cason v. Baskin (1945), the Florida Supreme Court held that statements made in a book about a woman who "lived a quiet and private life," even if truthful, could nevertheless be the basis of a claim for invasion of privacy where the matters disclosed — in this case, the plaintiff's use of profanity — were not of "general or public interest." But this case did not necessarily establish a tort of false light, because there was no element of falsity required.
In Gill v. Curtis Publishing Co. (1952), the magazine Ladies Home Journal published an article criticizing "love at first sight" as being based solely on sexual attraction, and accompanied this article with a photograph of a couple. The couple sued, claiming the magazine had created a false impression of their love as "wrong" and likely to end in divorce. The California Supreme Court reversed the trial court, finding that the couple stated a common law claim for invasion of privacy. Previously, in Melvin v. Reid (1931), a California court had found that the right to privacy originated not in the common law but in the California constitution.
The case of Warren E. Spahn v. Julian Messner, Inc. (1967), is a leading New York Court of Appeals court case involving the civil tort of false light that involved, among other things, a knowing lie about a military decoration. Julian Messner, Inc. published a supposed biography of baseball great Warren Spahn, written by one Milton Shapiro; the biography was aimed at children. The biography was largely fictionalized but, in keeping with its genre and target audience, did not say things that made Spahn look bad (and thus was not libelous). Rather, the biography made him look more heroic than he was by, for example, falsely claiming that he had earned a Bronze Star. Spahn sought an injunction to prevent publication of this book, The Warren Spahn Story. The New York court ruled in Spahn's favor. The court blocked further publication of the book and ordered the defendants to pay damages in the amount of $10,000. Messner appealed. In its ruling, the New York court held that such speech was constitutionally unprotected, and therefore could give rise to a tort recovery, simply because of the emotional distress that the falsehoods caused Spahn. To this day, this is a classic and often-cited example of speech actionable under the false light tort and has been used in court decisions all across the country.
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False light
In United States law, false light is a tort concerning privacy that is similar to the tort of defamation. The privacy laws in the U.S. include a non-public person's right to protection from publicity that creates an untrue or misleading impression about them. That right is balanced against the First Amendment right of free speech.
False light differs from defamation primarily in being intended "to protect the plaintiff's mental or emotional well-being", rather than to protect a plaintiff's reputation as is the case with the tort of defamation, and in being about the impression created rather than being about veracity. If a publication of information is false, then a tort of defamation might have occurred. If that communication is not technically false but is still misleading, then a tort of false light might have occurred.
False light privacy claims often arise under the same facts as defamation cases, and therefore not all states recognize false light actions. There is a subtle difference in the way courts view the legal theories: false light cases are about damage to a person's personal feelings or dignity, whereas defamation is about damage to a person's reputation.
The specific elements of the tort of false light vary considerably, even among those jurisdictions which do recognize this tort. Generally, these elements consist of the following:
Some U.S. state courts have ruled that false light lawsuits brought under their states' laws must be rewritten as defamation lawsuits; these courts generally base their opinion on the premises that a) any publication or statement giving rise to a false-light claim will also give rise to a defamation claim, such that the set of statements creating false light is necessarily, although not by definition, entirely within the set of statements constituting defamation; and b) the standard of what would be "highly offensive" or "embarrassing" to a reasonable person is much more difficult to apply than is the state's standard for defamation, such that the potential penalties for violating the former standard would have an unconstitutional or otherwise unacceptable chilling effect on the media. However, "most states do allow false light claims to be brought, even where a defamation claim would suffice." Some of the states do not recognize the false light claim due to the similarity between false light and defamation, as well as the possible impact on free speech. Some states that do recognize it will not allow a plaintiff to maintain suit for both false light and defamation.
In Cason v. Baskin (1945), the Florida Supreme Court held that statements made in a book about a woman who "lived a quiet and private life," even if truthful, could nevertheless be the basis of a claim for invasion of privacy where the matters disclosed — in this case, the plaintiff's use of profanity — were not of "general or public interest." But this case did not necessarily establish a tort of false light, because there was no element of falsity required.
In Gill v. Curtis Publishing Co. (1952), the magazine Ladies Home Journal published an article criticizing "love at first sight" as being based solely on sexual attraction, and accompanied this article with a photograph of a couple. The couple sued, claiming the magazine had created a false impression of their love as "wrong" and likely to end in divorce. The California Supreme Court reversed the trial court, finding that the couple stated a common law claim for invasion of privacy. Previously, in Melvin v. Reid (1931), a California court had found that the right to privacy originated not in the common law but in the California constitution.
The case of Warren E. Spahn v. Julian Messner, Inc. (1967), is a leading New York Court of Appeals court case involving the civil tort of false light that involved, among other things, a knowing lie about a military decoration. Julian Messner, Inc. published a supposed biography of baseball great Warren Spahn, written by one Milton Shapiro; the biography was aimed at children. The biography was largely fictionalized but, in keeping with its genre and target audience, did not say things that made Spahn look bad (and thus was not libelous). Rather, the biography made him look more heroic than he was by, for example, falsely claiming that he had earned a Bronze Star. Spahn sought an injunction to prevent publication of this book, The Warren Spahn Story. The New York court ruled in Spahn's favor. The court blocked further publication of the book and ordered the defendants to pay damages in the amount of $10,000. Messner appealed. In its ruling, the New York court held that such speech was constitutionally unprotected, and therefore could give rise to a tort recovery, simply because of the emotional distress that the falsehoods caused Spahn. To this day, this is a classic and often-cited example of speech actionable under the false light tort and has been used in court decisions all across the country.