Newspapers around the country recently reported on the Erin Andrews trial in Nashville, Tennessee. Ms. Andrews, a famous sportscaster, had filed a lawsuit against a Nashville hotel and a stalker after she was secretly videotaped several times in 2008, and nude images of her had been distributed on the internet. Ms. Andrews’s stalker allegedly called the hotel specifically to book a room next to hers. He admitted in a deposition that he used a hacksaw to alter the peepholes of Ms. Andrews’s hotel rooms. On Monday, March 7, 2016, a Tennessee jury awarded Ms. Andrews $55 million for the invasion of her privacy and the emotional damages she suffered as a result.
In our increasingly connected and recorded world, it is becoming more important to remain vigilant against invasions of our privacy. There are more cameras than ever before, and these cameras get smaller and easier to hide every day. In addition, the internet makes it simpler to distribute any video and ensures that thousands of people could potentially bear witness to the invasion of your privacy.
The worry is especially acute in your work environment. We assume a feeling of security when we go to work. While public, it is usually a professional setting. We go to our place of work every day, and we end up spending more time there than any place other than our homes. If we can’t feel safe and protected and private in our workplaces, then where can we feel safe?
Locks Law Firm has been at the forefront of ensuring safety in workplaces for over forty years. We seek to protect workers from all hazards, from toxic exposure to chemical and environmental contamination, from negligent safety mechanisms to cheating employers depriving workers of full pay. That fight to prevent worker safety extends to the invasion of privacy arena.
Recently, on March 1, 2016, Locks Law Firm, along with co-counsel, settled an invasion of privacy case in Bergen County for a significant amount of money. We represented twenty-nine women who had been illegally videotaped using the restrooms at work in a large office building in Somerset, New Jersey. Our clients were traumatized by this situation, their feelings of safety punctured, and fearing that the videos would show up on the internet at any time. They have to live the rest of their lives knowing that their lives were invaded in the most intimate of ways.
The sordid individual who actually committed the videotaping fled the country soon after. But we were able to obtain monetary compensation for our clients by successfully arguing that the individual’s employer, the building’s property management, and the building’s security had the ability to prevent the individual from committing his heinous acts.
If you feel as if your privacy is being invaded, please do not hesitate to contact Locks Law Firm.
