Case Summary

4983 REVIEW DENIED. Where a complaint alleged that California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers circulated pictures on the internet of a decedent decapitated in an automobile accident, the trial court improperly sustained the officers' demurrer to the decedents' family's causes of action for invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence. The trial court also improperly granted the CHP's motion for judgment on the pleadings because the CHP may have been vicariously liable for the officers' actions. However, the trial court properly dismissed the plaintiffs' causes of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

CATSOURAS v CAL HIGHWAY PATROL (Pictures of a Decapitated Teenager) 181 CA4 856 [See Miller v. National Broadcasting Co. 187 CA3 1463; Shulman v. Group W Productions, Inc. 18 C4 200; 42 USC § 1983]