California Court of Appeal reverses trial court and permits former professor to pursue invasion of privacy claims against the University of California.

On September 30, 2024, Wentworth v. Regents of the University of California, the Court of Appeal for the First District of California held that a professor had a viable claim that the university violated the Information Practices Act (IPA) by leaking a letter about student complaints against the professor to the media and disclosing information about his disability accommodations to other faculty and students at a meeting.  

The court held that the case would proceed on plaintiff’s privacy claims and a summary adjudication by the lower court was not appropriate on those issues.  

The court affirmed the lower court’s order granting summary adjudication in favor of the university on plaintiff’s claims of failure to accommodate and failure to engage in the interactive process required by the Fair Employment and Housing Act.

The case exemplifies the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of an employee’s personal information, including private employment, medical, and disability history and not disclosing it in meetings to employees or students, or the media.  Revealing this information “in a manner that would link the information disclosed to the individual to whom it pertains” to the media, students, or employees without a legitimate need to know could result in liability under the IPA, including potential attorney fees.