Welling v. Weinfeld
Ohio Supreme Court
866 N.E.2d 1051 (2007)
- Written by Angela Patrick, JD
Facts
Lauri Weinfeld (defendant) and Robert and Katherine Welling (plaintiffs) were neighbors who did not get along. At one point, someone threw a rock through the window of a building on Weinfeld’s property. Weinfeld was convinced that the Wellings’ son had thrown the rock, although she had no evidence to support her belief. Weinfeld created flyers offering a reward for anyone who could provide information about the rock incident. In addition to posting these flyers around the neighborhood, Weinfeld intentionally posted them at the factory where Robert and his son worked and at the school attended by the Wellings’ children. The neighbors’ dispute ended up in a lawsuit. As part of that lawsuit, the Wellings brought an invasion-of-privacy-by-false-light claim against Weinfeld, alleging that Weinfeld’s act of posting the flyers at the Wellings’ work and school locations falsely implied to the public that the Wellings’ son had thrown the rock. The jury agreed, found that the Wellings had established their invasion-of-privacy-by-false-light claim, and awarded damages to them. The matter ended up before the Ohio Supreme Court to determine whether Ohio recognized the tort of invasion of privacy by false light.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Pfeifer, J.)
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