In a humorous decision by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the court has upheld a district court’s decision that a person cannot bring a harassment lawsuit against his uncle for posting childhood pictures of the nephew on Facebook.
According to the appelate court, the claim did not rise to the level of constituting harrasment as defined by Minnesota law. Under Minnesota Statute 609.748, the term harassment is defined as:
(a) “Harassment” includes:
(1) a single incident of physical or sexual assault or repeated incidents of intrusive or unwanted acts, words, or gestures that have a substantial adverse effect or are intended to have a substantial adverse effect on the safety, security, or privacy of another, regardless of the relationship between the actor and the intended target . . .
In finding that no harassment had occurred in the case, the appelate court focused on the word “substantial” and found that no substantial adverse effects had happened to the nephew. Although he didn’t like the photos and asked his uncle to take them down, the law simply does not support the nephews lawsuit.
As a Apple Valley MN attorney who has taken my share of strange phone calls and requests about “whether I can sue him/her for that”, I cannot help to chuckle a little at this one. I wouldn’t bring the lawsuit, but, evidently the plaintiff was mad enough to do it.
