Nader v. General Motors Corp.
Court of Appeals of New York
255 N.E.2d 765 (N.Y. 1970)
After automotive-safety critic Ralph Nader (plaintiff) planned to publish a book criticizing General Motors (defendant), GM allegedly launched a campaign to suppress him, including questioning his friends and acquaintances about personal matters, surveilling him in public for an unreasonable duration, using women to try to lure him into sexual encounters, making threatening and harassing phone calls, wiretapping and eavesdropping on his phone, and conducting a continuing harassing investigation. Nader sued GM for invasion of privacy, and the trial court dismissed all but the first two counts of his complaint; GM appealed.
Whether, to sustain a cause of action for invasion of privacy, a plaintiff must show that the defendant's conduct is truly 'intrusive.'