Invasion of Privacy; Medical Records 

Posted: 1:00 am Mon, June 29, 2009
By Minnesota Lawyer
Tags: Torts

1. Posting private information on a publicly accessible Internet website satisfies the publicity element of an invasion-of-privacy claim.

2. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act does not preempt Minnesota Statutes section 144.335 (2006), which gives patients a private right of action for improper disclosure of their medical records, because, although the statutes provide different remedies, both statutes discourage a person from wrongfully disclosing information from another person’s health record.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

Concurring specially, Johnson, J. Judge Johnson expresses concern regarding the breadth of the court’s holding that the publicity element of an invasion-of-privacy claim is satisfied whenever private information is posted on a publicly accessible website. “It is unnecessary to create such a broad rule of law because there is evidence in the record that the person responsible for the [MySpace page at issue in this case] sent it directly to a sufficiently large number of persons.”