Parnigoni v. St. Columba’s Nursery School

St. Columba’s Nursery School (school) (defendant) employed Fiona Parnigoni (plaintiff) as a teacher. When Fiona was engaged to David Parnigoni, David was convicted of indecent exposure to a minor. Fiona disclosed this information to school leadership, who did nothing with the information at the time. A few years later, Fiona and David had a son, Andrew. The Parnigonis wanted to enroll Andrew at the school. Although school leadership was initially apprehensive due to David’s conviction, the leadership seemed reassured when the couple explained that David would not enter school premises to pick up Andrew. But several weeks after Andrew enrolled, the school’s leaders told Fiona that they felt it necessary to disclose to the community that Fiona had married a sex offender. The school’s leaders explained that, in their view, the situation was Fiona’s fault for marrying David notwithstanding his conviction. Fiona offered to unenroll Andrew and resign as a teacher to avoid the public disclosure. But the school nonetheless sent a letter to 3,500 households explaining that Fiona had married a sex offender and that until recently, the couple’s son had been enrolled at the school. In response, according to the Parnigonis, they received letters from parents indicating that the school’s letter had unfairly maligned Fiona as posing a threat to her students. Fiona, David, and Andrew sued the school for, as relevant here, invasion of privacy by false light. The school moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).