Danai v. Canal Square Associates

Catherine Danai (plaintiff) was the chief executive officer of a company that leased office space from Canal Square Associates (Canal) (defendant). The company and Canal became involved in a lease dispute that led to a lawsuit. During the trial of that lawsuit, Canal impeached Danai with a letter Danai had written. Danai had written the letter in her office, tore it up, and threw it in her wastebasket. Crews from Canal’s property manager then picked up Danai’s trash and put it in a locked trash room on the premises. The property manager then went through the trash from Danai’s office, found the letter, and gave it to Canal. Canal used the letter in the lease-dispute trial. There was no evidence that Danai had a key to the locked room or that she requested to the property manager that her trash be kept private. However, Danai indicated in an affidavit that she had subjectively believed that her letters in the trash would remain private. After that trial, Danai sued Canal for (among other things) invasion of privacy. Specifically, Danai alleged that the search of her trash was an intrusion upon her seclusion. Canal moved for summary judgment, arguing that Danai had no legitimate privacy interest in commercial trash at a common trash site in the building. The trial court granted Canal’s motion, and Danai appealed.