143 W. Va. 869 - Roach v. Harper’s Empirical Analysis
1958
Citation profile
8 federal appellate · 34 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 62 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2014 · most notably Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing Co. (1974), Nader v. General Motors Corp. (1970)
8 federal appellate · 34 state decisions — followed in 12 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Hurtado v. People of the State of California · Roberson v. . Rochester Folding Box Co. · Pavesich v. New England Life Insurance · Barnes Coal Corp. v. Retail Coal Merchants Ass'n · 347 Ill. App. 293 - Eick v. Perk Dog Food Co.
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 62 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The right of privacy, including the right of an individual to be let alone and to keep secret his private communications, conversations and affairs, is a right the unwarranted invasion or violation of which gives rise to a common-law right of action for damages.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“1. The right of privacy, including the right of an individual to be let alone and to keep secret his private communications, conversations and affairs, is a right the unwarranted invasion or violation of which gives rise to a common-law right of action for damages. In Roach , we stated: The “right of privacy” has been defined as the right of an individual to be let alone, to live a life of seclusion, or to be free from unwarranted publicity. The right of privacy is closely related to many other subjects of law, e. g., libel and slander, literary property, wrongful search and seizure, compulsory physical examination and eavesdropping. Though different in some respects from such subjects, the right to privacy is an individual right that should be held inviolate. To hold otherwise, under modern means of communication, hearing devices, photography, and other technological advancements, would effectively deny valuable rights and freedoms to the individual. The usual argument against the existence of the right of action is that it is for a wrong or tort for which no recovery was permitted at common law. We need not here, however, theorize as to the basis for the existence of the right. As above pointed out, that existence has been affirmed by the very great weight of authority. It may not be amiss, however, to quote language of Judge Parker in the opinion in Barnes Coal Corporation v. Retail Coal Merchants Ass’n, 4 Cir., 128 F.2d 645 , 648: “ * * * It must be remembered, in this co”
1 later decision quote this exact passage““Courts which have followed the doctrine of the existence of the right of action have had no difficulty in reaching the conclusion that an allegation of special damages is not necessary to the validity of the pleading. We think the conclusion logical. The invasion of the right, the tort committed, gives right to the action, the right to recover damages. ‘Publication or commercialization may aggravate, but the individual’s right to privacy is invaded and violated nevertheless in the original act of intrusion.’ McDaniel v. Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Co., supra. Questions of special damages, of course, may arise so as to enhance recovery. Also, circumstances may arise which would mitigate the damages. * * * The same reasoning leads to the conclusion that a declaration in such an action, to be sufficient against demurrer, need not allege publication of information or results obtained through the invasion.” — 105 S.E.2d at page 568 .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.