Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
Posted photos and no consent
I had taken nude photos of a woman
and they were stored on my
computer. She gave full consent and
we agreed on nothing. The computer
crashed and was then sold. The
photos ended up on the internet
without my consent or hers. She
wants to sue me because I had
owned the computer prior to the
sale. What can she do? What can I
do? The computer buyer/poster of
the photos is unknown.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Posted photos and no consent
What an interesting legal question.
Did you have a legal duty to smash the hard drive with a sledgehammer or otherwise destroy the data before selling the "crashed" computer? Or were you negligent in not doing so? If you did have a legal duty, did the fact that the computer "crashed" prevent you from taking reasonable care to delete the files or to format the hard drive before selling? Are you somehow responsible for the poster's intervening wrong in putting the material on the internet? My best guess is you will win any lawsuit, but whoever loses will appeal.
If you are sued, call your homeowners' or renters' insurance carrier, they should provide you with a free lawyer.
Re: Posted photos and no consent
She 'can' do anything she likes: sue, file criminal charges, etc. If she does, hire an attorney to defend you. You are facing a foreseeable consequence of your behavior, even if you only now realize it is an 'unintended consequence'. I won't give you a morality lecture, but you should think through the 'right vs wrong' and risks of anything you propose doing. The court system is filled with people spending money on lawyers after doing something unwise or worse. There is a famous cartoon showing two guys sitting in a jail cell, with one guy saying to the other, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
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