Interference With Privacy - In What Forms Might It Be Actionable in Virginia?

Much has been written about the right of privacy since the 1890 law review article by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis which first proposed that such a right be recognized. In the ensuing years the tort of invasion of privacy, which is, in reality, an amalgam of four separate torts, has been widely accepted. In spite of the burgeoning recognition of various rights assembled under the rubric of right to privacy, the Supreme Court of Virginia has never decided whether private citizens are entitled to protection of their personal privacy against invasions by other private citizens. It is the intent of this article to discuss the status of the common law tort of invasion of privacy in Virginia and to consider whether the tort, if it exists in any embryonic stage, would or should be legitimatized. Because of the proliferation of articles and cases discussing various facets of the right of privacy, this article is of limited scope. It makes no attempt to discuss in detail whether particular factual situations should or should not fall within the purview of such a right, to catalogue, review or discuss the right of privacy as developed in other jurisdictions, or to deal with constitutional limitations on governments which grant or ensure a limited right of privacy. Neither does the article discuss the first amendment ramifications necessarily raised by certain branches of the tort of invasion of privacy involving publication of private facts, unauthorized appropriation of one\u27s name or likeness or portrayal of an individual in a false light