Mau

This is an action in tort invoking the right to privacy, or what Judge Cooley called the right “to be let alone.”

Plaintiff, employed as a chauffeur, was, on March 22, 1937, held up by a robber and shot, suffering serious injury. His nerves received a severe shock, and as a result of the encounter he became “mentally ill, nervous and distraught.” Mere mention of the shooting caused acute nervous attacks. On and prior to August 4, 1938, defendant Rio Grande Oil, Inc., a corporation, was engaged in producing through the radio facilities of defendant Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., a corporation, an advertising program entitled “Calling All Cars.” On the last mentioned date, Rio Grande caused to be broadcast in San Francisco over the Columbia network a dramatization of the holdup and shooting, using plaintiff’s name without his consent. When plaintiff heard the broad cast he suffered mental anguish, aggravated by telephone calls- from sympathetic friends who also heard the broadcast and were desirous of rehashing the near-tragedy which plaintiff wished to forget. On the day following the broadcast, and as a direct result thereof, plaintiff’s physical and mental condition were…