Legal Memorandum: Right of Privacy Violations in NJ

Issue: What type of civil remedies are available for a violation of the right of privacy in New Jersey?

The common law of privacy is widely understood to comprise four distinct kinds of invasion of four different interests of a plaintiff, tied together by a common name, but otherwise having almost nothing in common.^[1]  See Fijured v. Paralegal Technical Services. Inc., 555 A.2d 663, 665 (N.J. Super. 1989) (citation omitted); W. Prosser, Law of Torts 117 at && 804-12 (4^th ed. 1971).  New Jersey courts recognize all four types of invasion as set forth in the Second Restatement of Torts.  See Rumbauskas v. Cantor, 649 A.2d 853, 856 (N.J. 1994); Fijured, 555 A.2d at 665-66.  One of these common law actions is referred to by New Jersey courts as “the unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another.”  See, e.g., Lingar v. Live-In Companions, Inc., 692 A.2d 61, 67 (N.J. Super. 1997); Fijured, 555 A.2d at 666. 

New Jersey courts have relied on the Commentary to the Restatement in interpreting the elements of the seclusion type of privacy claim.  Under the Restatement, a violation of privacy claim requires a showing that someone intentionally intruded, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another or his private affairs or concerns, where the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.  See Fijured, 555 A.2d at 666 (citations omitted).  New Jersey courts, relying on the Commentary to the Restatement, have held that the intrusion must be into a private place or private seclusion.  See id. (citations omitted).   Moreover, […]