Lovejoy v. Linehan
New Hampshire Supreme Court
161 N.H. 483 (2011)

- Written by Miller Jozwiak, JD
Facts
David Lovejoy (plaintiff) challenged the elected county sheriff, James Linehan (defendant). Mark Peirce (defendant) was Linehan’s second-in-command. The sheriff’s office had significant law-enforcement powers under New Hampshire law. Prior to election day, a local newspaper published an article saying that Lovejoy had been convicted of simple assault. But Lovejoy had had the case annulled. Lovejoy sued Linehan and Peirce, alleging that the two men had provided the newspaper with the criminal record for the story. Lovejoy claimed that Linehan and Peirce’s action constituted an invasion of privacy by public disclosure of private facts. Linehan and Peirce moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim, which the trial court granted. Lovejoy appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Hicks, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.