N.Y. Civil Rights Law 52-D – Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publication of a personal image
§ 52-d. Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publication of a personal image. 1. Any crime victim depicted in a still or video image which was unlawfully disseminated as provided in § 250.71 of the penal law shall have a cause of action against such individual who disseminated or published such still or video image without the consent of the person depicted in the image in violation of § 250.71 of the penal law.
Terms Used In N.Y. Civil Rights Law 52-D
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
2. In any action commenced pursuant to subdivision one of this section, the finder of fact, in its discretion, may award injunctive relief, punitive damages, compensatory damages and reasonable court costs and attorneys' fees.
3. This section shall not apply to the following:
a. the reporting of suspected unlawful conduct to law enforcement;
b. the dissemination or publication of an image made in the course of official law enforcement duties, legal proceedings or criminal prosecution, or medical treatment; or
c. the dissemination or publication of an image made for a legitimate public discourse concerning local, national, or worldwide events or other matters of public concern or public interest or affecting the public welfare; any work of public interest, educational or newsworthy value, including comment, criticism, parody or satire, and works of entertainment, regardless of the degree of fictionalization; or an advertisement or commercial announcement for any of the foregoing works.
4. Any such crime victim depicted in a still or video image which was unlawfully disseminated as provided in § 250.71 of the penal law, or such person's estate, may maintain an action or special proceeding for a court order to require any social media platform that is subject to personal jurisdiction under subdivision five of this section to permanently remove such still or video image; any such court order granted pursuant to this subdivision may direct removal only as to images that are reasonably within such social media platform's control.
5. A cause of action or special proceeding under this section shall be commenced the later of either:
a. three years after the dissemination or publication of such image; or
b. one year from the date the plaintiff or petitioners discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, such dissemination or publication of such image.
6. Nothing in this section shall be read to require a prior criminal complaint, prosecution or conviction to establish the elements of the cause of action provided for by this section.
7. The provisions of this section are in addition to, but shall not supersede, any other rights or remedies available in law or equity.
8. If any provision of this section or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this section which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this section are severable.
9. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit, or to enlarge, the protections that 47 U.S.C. § 230 confers on an interactive computer service for content provided by another information content provider, as such terms are defined in 47 U.S.C. § 230.