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The Supreme Court, in Civil Appeal No. 405/2016, issued a landmark judgment in which, by analysing the requirements that need to be met for breach of privacy and breach of confidence, it overturned the First Instance Judgment, by which the Appellant's claim for damages for breach of privacy arising from the publication of the book "Eleni the prostitute, an angel in hell" was dismissed.
According to the Supreme Court, the First Instance Court's main error was that it decided that the key question in the case was whether the Book referred to the Appellant and whether it described her life. The Supreme Court, disagreeing with the First Instance Court on this matter, ruled that the question was not whether the Appellee had written the Appellant's story accurately, but whether a person who knew the Appellant, could reasonably consider that the Book referred to her. Furthermore, the Supreme Court emphasized that, in proving breach of privacy, it is irrelevant whether the information is true or false.
The next question raised by the Supreme Court, was whether the content of the Book was such as to constitute an invasion of the Appellant's privacy. It was therefore necessary to determine whether the content of the Book concerned matters that fell within the sphere of the Appellant's private life, in relation to which she could have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Previous disclosure, or consent by the person concerned, to the publication of information about their private life, does not imply a reduced expectation of privacy. The Supreme Court ruled that in the case in question, it was clear that the information contained in the Book belonged to the sphere of private life.
The Supreme Court, by awarding damages in the amount of €25,000 to the Appellant, ruled that the Appellant felt wronged by the publication of the Book and the disclosure of her personal matters, information that had been obtained in the context of a close relationship that the Appellee had developed with the Appellant. Furthermore, the fact that the nature of the information concerned sexual activities of the Appellant was taken into account, as well as the fact that the Appellee profited from the publication of the Book, even if the profit could not be accurately assessed. According to the Supreme Court, the purpose of damages in such cases is to protect the rights that are at stake, namely dignity, autonomy, and personality.
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