Coverage Quiz (Q3 2026)

 

By Al Haverkamp of Lucas & Haverkamp

1Question: Yahoo! was sued in a series of class action lawsuits involving unsolicited text messages in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). Yahoo! tendered its defense to its insurer, National Union. The law of privacy recognizes a right to seclusion and a right to secrecy. The right of seclusion asserts the right to be free, in a particular location, from disturbance by others. The right of secrecy asserts the right to prevent disclosure of personal information to others. Invasion of the right of seclusion involves the means, manner, and method of communication in a location which disturbs the recipient’s seclusion. The right of secrecy involves the content of communication. The TCPA lawsuits alleged violations of the plaintiffs’ right of seclusion, as the content of the text messages was not problematic. The National Union policy provided “personal injury” coverage which included coverage for injuries “arising out of oral or written publication, in any manner, of material which violates a person’s right of privacy.” National Union denied coverage asserting the policy did not cover the TCPA lawsuits as the policy did not provide coverage for violation of the right to seclusion. National Union’s position focused on the word “material”, and asserted the coverage only pertained to problems with the material, which refers to the content of a message. Is there coverage?
Answer: Yes, the court found the National Union policy ambiguous as the clause “that violates a person’s right to privacy” could modify the entire phrase “oral or written publication, in any manner”, which would then concern the intrusive way the material was published, not just its informational content. The Court construed the policy against the insurer and found coverage. See Yahoo Inc. v National Union (2022) 14 Cal. 5th 58.