If I photograph a man doing something silly such as slipping on a banana peel and the picture appears in a newspaper, can he sue me for holding him up to ridicule?
Anybody can sue almost anybody for almost anything in this country. The real question is whether he will win. In the areas of defamation, libel, etc., truth is almost always a good defense. Assuming the photo is not staged or manipulated, i.e. that it is a true and accurate image of what really happened, and assuming it is used for editorial purposes and not trade or advertising, the photography by itself will probably not be a source of liability. However, if the newspaper decides to do something like run it with a headline that says “King of the Klutzes” and an embarrassing or humiliating story, there could easily be a successful lawsuit. The liability, though, would belong to the publisher of the newspaper, not the photographer, although the photographer would probably be stuck having to defend him- or herself in the suit. Even worse, the photographer may have signed an agreement with the publisher in which he/she promised to indemnify the publisher. In that case, the photographer w
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- If I photograph a man doing something silly such as slipping on a banana peel and the picture appears in a newspaper, can he sue me for holding him up to ridicule?
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