Spahn v. Julian Messner, Inc.
New York Court of Appeals
18 N.Y.2d 324 (1966)
- Written by Matthew Celestin, JD
Facts
Warren Spahn (plaintiff) was a famous professional baseball player. Julian Messner, Inc. (defendant) published and sold an unauthorized fictional biography of Spahn (the book), which was purportedly based on events from Spahn’s life and included Spahn’s name and picture. The book also supposedly depicted Spahn’s private life and included fictionalized and embellished events, conversations, and relationships intertwined with factual information. Spahn sued Julian Messner for invasion of privacy under New York law and produced evidence of the pervasive factual errors in the book. The New York Supreme Court ruled in Spahn’s favor and granted Spahn monetary and injunctive relief. Julian Messner appealed. [Editor’s Note: A summary of the New York Supreme Court’s prior decision in this matter can be found at: https://www.quimbee.com/cases/spahn-v-julian-messner-inc-250-n-y-s-2d-529-1964.]
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Keating, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 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.