Santillo v. Reedel

• Decision Date: 30 November 1993
• Citation: 430 Pa.Super. 290,634 A.2d 264
• Parties: , 22 Media L. Rep. 1381 Michael SANTILLO, Appellant, v. Clement REEDEL and Robert Piermatteo, Sandra Adams and Martine Ross (Mary Doe I).
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 264

634 A.2d 264

430 Pa.Super. 290, 22 Media L. Rep. 1381

Michael SANTILLO, Appellant, v. Clement REEDEL and Robert Piermatteo, Sandra Adams and Martine Ross (Mary Doe I).

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 29, 1993.

Filed Nov. 30, 1993.

Carla E. Connor, Norristown, for appellant.

Christine M. Mooney Brenner, Philadelphia, for Reedel & Piermatteo, appellees.

Before ROWLEY, President Judge, and OLSZEWSKI and BECK, JJ.

BECK, Judge:

This is an appeal of a order granting summary judgment in favor of appellees on all claims by appellant. We affirm.

In 1987, appellant, a former police officer, ran for the office of district justice in Montgomery County. Prior to the election, a young woman informed the press that eight years before, when she was sixteen years old, appellant made unwanted sexual advances toward her. The newspaper articles revealed that Sandra Adams (Adams), the girl's mother, made a formal complaint to the police department and sought to press charges against appellant. The police began an investigation of the complaint and interviewed the alleged victim. She was given a polygraph test which indicated that she was telling the truth. After some discussion with the police, the mother signed a release stating that she would not press criminal charges nor bring a civil action against appellant provided he resigned from the police force. One week after the mother signed the release, appellant resigned from his position as a police officer.

In response to questions by newspaper reporters, Upper Merion Township Chief of Police Clement Reedel (Reedel) and Lieutenant Robert Piermatteo (Piermatteo), appellees herein, confirmed that a complaint had been made by Adams and that a polygraph test had been administered in the investigation of the complaint. However, neither officer revealed the nature or findings of the investigation.

Appellant brought suit against the publishers of the newspapers, the reporters, Adams and her daughter and Reedel and Piermatteo for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress, seeking both compensatory and punitive damages. The parties filed Answers denying the allegations and after some preliminary discovery, Reedel and Piermatteo filed a motion for summary judgment. ¹ The motion was granted and this timely appeal followed.

We begin by noting that the trial court's order granted summary judgment on all claims against Reedel and Piermatteo. However, appellant's brief addresses only the invasion of privacy claims. Therefore, any appellate challenge to the other claims against Reedel and Piermatteo has been waived and we address only those issues briefed by appellant. See Pa.R.A.P. 2116(a); Ibn-Sadiika v. Riester, 380 Pa.Super. 397, 551 A.2d 1112, 1114 (1988).

Summary judgment is appropriate in matters which are free and clear from doubt and in which there are no issues of material fact. The moving party must be entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Intili v. Salak, 403 Pa.Super. 578, 589 A.2d 761, 764 (1991). We review the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, accepting as true all well-pleaded facts and giving to that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences. Carns v. Yingling, 406 Pa.Super. 279, 594 A.2d 337 (1991). Our review is not limited to the pleadings, but includes depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions and affidavits. Pa.R.C.P. 1035(b).

Tort claims based on invasion of privacy can be one of four types: 1) intrusion upon seclusion, 2) appropriation of name or likeness, 3) publicity given to private life, and 4) publicity placing a person in a false light. Culver by Culver v. Port Allegheny Reporter Argus, 409 Pa.Super. 401, 598 A.2d 54, 56 (1991), alloc. denied, 533 Pa. 600, 617 A.2d 1274 (1992); Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 652B-E. Appellant claims that in confirming the existence of Adams' complaint and the subsequent investigation and polygraph test, Reedel and Piermatteo gave publicity to appellant's private life and placed him in a false light.

In order to make out a claim of publicity to private life, a plaintiff must establish that a private fact was publicized and that such fact was of a type highly offensive to a reasonable person and not of legitimate concern to the public. Harris by Harris v. Easton Publishing Company, 335 Pa.Super. 141, 483 A.2d 1377, 1384 (1984). The trial court found that summary judgment was proper on this claim because "no genuine issues of material fact exist[ed] ... as to whether the publicity given to the contents of [appellant's] personnel file was highly offensive to a reasonable person or was of legitimate public concern." Trial Court Op. at 7. We disagree that release of the information here could not cause a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities to be offended. The nature of the allegations, sexual abuse of a minor, are of a type that could indeed cause shame or humiliation for its subject. See Harris, supra, 335 Pa.Super. at 159, 483 A.2d at 1387 (whether publication of welfare applicant's history is highly offensive is question of fact precluding summary judgment).

We agree, however, that there is no question that the information was of legitimate concern to the public. Appellant was running for public office. As candidate for district justice, he sought a position that would enable him to judge the conduct of others and determine whether that...