New York Court of Appeals
Jamie Messenger, an Infant Under the Age of Eighteen, by Her Mother and “Next Friend,” Donna Messenger…
February 17, 200094 N.Y.2d 436
Summary
The New York Court of Appeals answered the certified question by holding that a plaintiff cannot recover under Civil Rights Law §§ 50 and 51 when a photograph is used to illustrate a newsworthy article, even if the juxtaposition creates a false impression, so long as the article has a real relationship to the photograph and is not an advertisement in disguise. Justice Bellacosa dissented, arguing that a fictionalization exception should permit recovery.