Patel v. Hussain

Akhil Patel (defendant) was upset with Nadia Hussain (plaintiff) for breaking up with him. Patel sought revenge by posting secretly recorded pornographic videos of Hussain online and by sending friends and family members links to the videos. Patel also continually harassed Hussain, informing her of how many people had viewed the videos and taunting her about the permanence of information uploaded to the Internet. Patel’s actions caused Hussain extreme and prolonged humiliation, worry, and fear. Friends and family testified that Hussain would cry, shake, and scream when discussing Patel’s actions, that she became visibly panicked when Patel attempted to contact her, and that she felt unable to trust people and worried about her ability to form relationships or find employment in the future due to the existence of the videos. Hussain missed several days of work, moved out of her parents’ home and into an apartment with enhanced security features, changed her daily routines so that Patel would not be able to find her, and added extra security to her cell-phone service to prevent Patel from hacking her accounts. Hussain brought several claims, including invasion of privacy, against Patel. A jury awarded Hussain $107,500 for past mental anguish and $107,000 for future mental anguish. The trial court denied Patel’s motion for a new trial, and he appealed, arguing that the damages award was excessive.