Dillard v. Hoyt

Plaintiffs filed a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action against the City, the County, and officials, alleging violations of their constitutional right to privacy and of Arkansas tort law in connection with defendants' decisions to release information identifying them as victims of childhood sexual abuse. Plaintiffs are sisters and stars of the popular reality show 19 Kids and Counting. Plaintiffs were interviewed along with others as part of a police investigation into sexual misconduct by plaintiffs' brother.The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of qualified immunity to the defendant officials. In this case, the information released about the minors interviewed in the investigation was highly personal and involved the most intimate aspects of human affairs. Furthermore, the information was inherently private and entitled to constitutional protection. Therefore, the court held that plaintiffs have stated a plausible claim for the violation of their constitutional right to confidentiality, and the right of minor victims of sexual abuse not to have their identities and the details of their abuse revealed to the public was clearly established at the time. Because plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded intentional torts, the officials are not entitled to statutory or qualified immunity on plaintiffs' state law claims at this stage of the proceedings. View "Dillard v. Hoyt" on Justia Law