The opinion by the 4th District Court of Appeal in
reverses a lower court’s dismissal of a family’s lawsuit against the
CHP over the improper release of images of 18-year-old Nikki Catsouras’
death in a car accident on
The CHP has admitted that Officers
including images of the woman’s decapitated body “for pure shock
value,” according to the strongly worded 64-page ruling.
“Once received, the photographs were forwarded to
others,” the ruling stated, “and thus spread across the Internet like a
malignant firestorm, popping up in thousands of Web sites.”
Catsouras’ relatives began receiving mysterious
e-mails and text messages taunting them with the images, which were
posted on Web sites that feature extreme pornography and sadistic and
morbid curiosities.
Catsouras’ father, mother and sisters filed suit
against the CHP for invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of
emotional distress and negligence.
But Orange County Superior Court Judge
The appeals court, however, sided with the family,
hoping to set a precedent that could prevent trauma to the loved ones
of accident victims in the future.
“We rely upon the CHP to protect and serve the
public,” the ruling read. “It is antithetical to that expectation for
the CHP to inflict harm upon us by making the ravaged remains of our
loved ones the subjects of Internet sensationalism. It is important to
prevent future harm to other families by encouraging the CHP to
establish and enforce policies to preclude its officers from engaging
in such acts ever again.”
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