§ 6.5.4.4.2 PUBLICITY.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 6.5.4.4.2 Publicity. False light requires "communication of the information to the public at large, or to so many persons that the matter must be regarded as substantially certain to become one of public knowledge."²²

Publication to a single person or very small group of people does not generally suffice for false light invasion of privacy.²³ Similarly, disclosing false information to internal employees involved in the processing of another employee's termination of employment does not constitute publicity.²⁴ On the contrary, a group of fifteen to seventeen people may be sufficient if there is potential of public dissemination of the information.²⁵ Some courts have held that where the disclosure of false or private information was made to a person with whom the plaintiff has a special relationship, publicity may be established.²⁶

In order to be liable for false light, the defendant must be responsible for the publicity.²⁷ Employees cannot rely on their own interrogatory answers about the existence of widespread rumors in the community that employees were drug dealers to establish publicity.²⁸

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Notes:

^[22]Hart, 190 Ariz. at 280, 947 P.2d at 854 (citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652D, cmt. a); see alsoPace v. Bristol Hosp., 964 F. Supp. 628, 631 (D. Conn. 1997) ("To establish...