This case arose from child custody litigation where custody and visitation are in dispute. During this time, the child’s mother allegedly thought that it would be a really good idea to have a GPS device placed on the child’s father’s vehicle as well as the child’s diaper bag.
The child’s father filed a diversity jurisdiction suit in Federal District Court. The theory that’s relevant to this blog is that the father alleged that Defendants unreasonably intruded upon his seclusion by tracking his location through the use of GPS devices.
Applying the law of the tort of intrusion upon seclusion, the Court had to decide whether these alleged facts constituted a violation of a reasonable expectation of privacy. The Court, looking to the Fourth Amendment cases of Jones v. United States, , and Carpenter v. U.S. decided that the answer is yes.
The case is Demo v. Kirksey, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 194973,
2018 WL 5994995 (D. MD) November 15, 2018.