Jour 430

FALSITY

Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. (1975)
- wrestling team members, disqualified
- parents intervened and appealed the decision
- ultimately parents won and got their children back on the team
- sports columnist from Lorain Journal Co. was outraged
- said that they lied under oath (criminal offense)
- significance: statements simply implying an assertion can be considered false facts
- ^ flipside of Falwell decision.

The Sun
"Pregnancy forces granny to quit work at age 101"
- photo of woman - she sues for libel and invasion of privacy
- 90% of stories are made up
- stories are so hyperbolized, no one would believe them
- The Sun won the case against libel

Falsity needs to be something reasonable/that can be taken seriously, if not it cannot be proved, even if it is LITERALLY false.
On the flipside, if it was never said it explicitly, but was implied (the connotation) , then it can be proved.

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INVASION OF PRIVACY
- different from libel
- they protect different interests
- libel's key interest is how other people perceive you
- privacy is about how YOU feel about yourself
- privacy law does not have to be defamatory or negative
- truth cannot be used as a defense in invasion of privacy suits, unlike libel cases
- not all invasion of privacy suits require publication

Four cases of libel law
- False light: when something highly offensive is implied to be true about them.
- Appropriation: commercial use of name or likeness without consent, consent is the only defense. a) Any person who knowingly uses anotehrs' photograph to advertise or sell something without consent. b) defendant must have made a knowing use of the likeness for purposes of advertising or solicitations or purchases c) plaintiff must establish a "direct connection" between the use and the commercial purpose.
- Disclosure: generally required element, defendant publicly disclosed information about the plaintiff, info was private (previously unknown to others), disclosure would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, information is not newsworthy; facts must be widely disseminated
- Intrusion: unique among privacy torts because it concerns news gathering rather than news reporting; when news gatherers "intentionally intrude, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another.." and that intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.


Time, Inc. V Hill
- Life Magazine ran a photo of the house where hostages were taken, Hill family wanted to put the incident behind them
- sued for false light
- reinforced NYT v. Sullivan
- gave protection to the media

False light case (Gill photo)
- John Gill and his wife at a Farmer's Market
- Harper's Bazaar used the photo with a headline "And so the world goes around..."
- article was about how everything revolves around love
- Harper's Bazaar won
- not used in a offensive way to a reasonable person

- Same photo in Ladies' Home Journal
- "Love based on grounding affection , better than sexual attraction "
- "Publicized as glamorous, love at first sight is a bad risk"
- Gills sue again saying they were shown in a bad light
- Gills won
- use of the photo was humiliating and disturbing (1950's)

Baywatch's Jose Solano, on the cover on Playgirl
- sued Playgirl for making it seem like he had posed nude