Primary Location
Torrance Personal Injury Lawyers
2916 W 164th St Second Floor, Torrance, CA 90504
Phone: (424) 622-0812
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Your privacy matters. It is one of the most personal rights you have. When someone violates it — whether a company, a landlord, an employer, or a stranger — the law gives you the right to fight back.
Privacy violations happen in many ways. Hidden cameras. Stolen data. Deepfake images. Leaked medical records. Someone sharing intimate photos without your consent. These are not just moral wrongs. They are legal wrongs. And in California, you have some of the strongest privacy protections in the country.
An invasion of privacy lawyer helps you hold the person or company responsible. You may be entitled to compensation for what happened. And in many cases, the court can order the violation to stop.
At The Simon Law Group, we handle privacy cases on contingency. That means you pay nothing unless we win. If your privacy was violated, we want to hear from you.
The law recognizes four types of invasion of privacy. Each one protects a different part of your right to be left alone.
This happens when someone invades your private space or affairs. It does not require them to publish anything. The intrusion itself is the violation. Examples include:
The key question is whether a reasonable person would find the intrusion highly offensive. Courts look at where it happened, how it happened, and what the person was trying to see or learn.
This claim applies when someone shares true but private information about you with the public. The information does not have to be false. It just has to be private enough that sharing it would offend a reasonable person. Common examples:
False light is similar to defamation but slightly different. It occurs when someone publishes information that creates a misleading impression about you. The information does not have to be entirely false. It just has to paint you in a way that is not true. For example, using your photo next to a story that has nothing to do with you — implying you were involved.
This happens when someone uses your name, image, or identity for their own benefit without your permission. It often comes up in advertising. A company uses your photo to sell a product. Someone creates a fake endorsement using your name. In the age of AI, this claim is growing fast.
California is one of very few states that includes privacy as an inalienable right in its constitution. Article I, Section 1 of the California Constitution lists privacy alongside life, liberty, and the pursuit of safety and happiness. That constitutional right applies to actions by both the government and private parties.
This gives California residents something most Americans do not have — a direct constitutional basis for privacy claims.
Invasion of privacy can be both a criminal and civil matter in California. That means the person who violated your privacy could face criminal charges. And separately, you can pursue a civil lawsuit for money damages. The two processes are independent of each other.
Technology has made privacy violations easier to commit and harder to detect. Artificial intelligence has created entirely new categories of harm that the law is still catching up to. If your privacy was violated through technology, you still have legal options.
Deepfakes use artificial intelligence to create fake images or videos of real people. The technology can put your face on someone else's body. It can make you appear to say things you never said. The results can be disturbingly realistic.
California has responded with specific laws:
Companies are scraping photos, social media posts, and personal data to train AI models — often without consent. Your face could be in a training dataset right now. Your writing could be feeding a language model. When companies collect and use your personal data without permission, that may be a privacy violation.
Facial recognition. Fingerprint scanners. Voiceprint analysis. Companies are collecting biometric data at an increasing rate. Some do it without telling you. Others bury consent in terms of service that no one reads. When biometric data is collected without proper notice and consent, you may have a claim.
Remote work has led to a surge in employee monitoring software. Keystroke logging. Screenshot capture every few minutes. Webcam activation without warning. Camera surveillance that goes beyond what is reasonable for the workplace. There are limits to what employers can monitor, even on company equipment. When surveillance crosses the line, it becomes a privacy violation.
If your privacy claim involves a data breach, our data breach lawyers can help with that specific type of case.
Privacy violations happen more often than most people think. Here are situations our clients commonly bring to us:
If any of these situations sounds familiar, talk to an identity theft lawyer or invasion of privacy attorney about your options.
Privacy cases can result in several types of compensation. What you recover depends on the facts of your case, the law that applies, and the severity of the violation.
These cover the real losses you suffered. Lost wages if you had to miss work. Costs of therapy or counseling. Expenses for credit monitoring, identity protection, or repairing your reputation. Any out-of-pocket cost tied to the privacy violation counts.
Privacy violations often cause deep emotional harm. Anxiety. Depression. Loss of sleep. Fear. Embarrassment. Courts take emotional distress seriously in privacy cases because the harm is so personal. In many cases, emotional distress damages are the largest part of the recovery.
Some privacy laws set a minimum dollar amount you can recover, even without proving specific losses. The CCPA allows $100 to $750 per consumer, per incident. Other statutes have their own ranges. These damages exist to punish violations and discourage companies from cutting corners on privacy.
When the violation was intentional or especially reckless, courts can award punitive damages on top of everything else. Punitive damages are meant to punish the wrongdoer. They are most common in cases involving deliberate spying, revenge porn, or corporate disregard for consumer privacy.
Sometimes the most important remedy is making the violation stop. A court can order the defendant to delete your data, remove images, stop surveillance, or change their practices. This is called injunctive relief.
Several California privacy statutes allow the winning party to recover attorney fees. This means the defendant may have to pay your legal costs on top of your damages.
Every privacy case is different. But most follow a similar path from start to finish.
We start by learning what happened. Who violated your privacy? How did they do it? What evidence exists? We review documents, records, and digital evidence to build a clear picture of the violation.
This step is critical. Digital evidence can disappear fast. Screenshots get deleted. Surveillance footage gets overwritten. Social media posts get taken down. We move quickly to preserve everything before it is gone. In some cases, we send legal hold letters to make sure the other side keeps their records.
Before filing a lawsuit, we often send a demand to the responsible party. This lays out what happened, what laws were broken, and what we expect in compensation. Some cases resolve at this stage.
If the demand does not produce a fair result, we file suit. The complaint details the violation, the legal basis for the claim, and the damages we are seeking.
Both sides exchange evidence. We dig into the defendant's records, policies, and communications. This is where we often find the strongest proof — internal emails showing they knew what they were doing, or records showing a pattern of violations.
Privacy cases often settle before trial. Defendants — especially companies — do not want a public trial about how they violated someone's privacy. The publicity alone can cost them more than the settlement. But if the offer is not fair, we are ready for trial. That willingness is what drives better settlements.
Think your privacy was violated? We'll review your case at no cost. Available 24/7.
Get Your Free Case ReviewWe are a trial firm. That fact changes the outcome of privacy cases.
Most privacy attorneys settle every case. They never see the inside of a courtroom. The companies and individuals on the other side know this. So they offer less.
Our attorneys have recovered over $600 million for clients across California and Arizona. We have tried cases in courtrooms throughout both states. When we tell the other side we are ready for trial, they believe us. That gives us leverage that settlement-only firms do not have.
Privacy cases are personal. The violation itself feels deeply invasive. We understand that. We treat every client's case with the seriousness it deserves. And we fight to make sure the person or company that violated your privacy pays for what they did.
You pay nothing unless we win. No upfront costs. No hourly fees. We work on contingency because we believe in the cases we take.
Call us or fill out the form. We'll tell you where you stand. Free. Confidential. No obligation.
(844) 843-8326Sources:
[1] California Constitution, Article I, Section 1 — Right to Privacy. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
[2] California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) — Office of the Attorney General. oag.ca.gov
[3] California Penal Code Sections 632, 647(j) — Privacy and Surveillance Statutes. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
[4] California AB 602 (2019) — Sexually Explicit Deepfakes; AB 730 (2019) — Political Deepfakes. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
Our attorneys have handled cases across California and Arizona. We know how to hold companies and government agencies accountable when they fail to protect your data.
That number reflects real results for real families — medical bills paid, lost wages recovered, and futures protected.
You pay nothing upfront. Our fee comes out of your settlement or verdict. If we do not win your case, you owe us nothing.
Data breaches don't wait. Neither do we. Call (844) 843-8326 any time — nights, weekends, and holidays.
Our team works out of offices in Torrance, Seal Beach, Santa Ana, and Phoenix. We handle data breach cases statewide.
“After a data breach, you need a team that answers the phone, explains your rights, and fights for every dollar you are owed. That is what we do at The Simon Law Group.”Over 250 years of combined attorney experience
The law recognizes four types: intrusion upon seclusion (someone invades your private space — hidden cameras, hacking), public disclosure of private facts (sharing true but private information publicly), false light (publishing misleading information about you), and appropriation of name or likeness (using your identity without consent). If someone intentionally violated your reasonable expectation of privacy, you likely have a legal claim.
Yes. If someone publicly shares private facts about you — such as medical conditions, financial details, or sexual history — and a reasonable person would find the disclosure offensive, you can sue for damages. The information does not have to be false. The claim is based on the fact that it was private and should have stayed private. California law provides strong protections for this type of violation.
Deepfakes are AI-generated images or videos that put your face or likeness into fake content. They can make you appear to say or do things you never did. California has specific laws addressing deepfakes. AB 602 gives you the right to sue if someone creates sexually explicit deepfakes using your likeness. AB 730 addresses deepfakes used in political campaigns. Beyond those statutes, deepfakes can also support claims for appropriation of likeness and emotional distress.
It depends. Employers generally can monitor activity on company-owned devices during work hours, especially if they have a written monitoring policy. But there are limits. Monitoring personal accounts, activating webcams without notice, recording keystrokes on personal devices, or surveilling off-duty activity can cross the line into invasion of privacy. California's two-party consent law also restricts recording conversations without employee knowledge.
California is one of very few states that includes privacy as an inalienable right in its constitution. Article I, Section 1 lists privacy alongside life, liberty, and the pursuit of safety. This right applies to actions by both the government and private parties. It means Californians can bring privacy claims that residents of most other states cannot. It is one of the strongest privacy protections in the country.
The value depends on several factors: the type of violation, how severe it was, whether it was intentional, and what harm you suffered. Compensation can include actual damages (lost wages, therapy costs), emotional distress damages, statutory damages under laws like the CCPA, and punitive damages in cases involving intentional or reckless conduct. Some privacy cases settle for thousands. Others reach six or seven figures. A lawyer can evaluate your specific situation.
Yes. California Civil Code Section 1708.85 gives victims of nonconsensual pornography the right to sue for damages. You can recover compensation for emotional distress, attorney fees, and punitive damages. This applies whether the images were shared by an ex-partner, a hacker, or anyone else. California also treats revenge porn as a criminal offense under Penal Code Section 647(j)(4). The civil and criminal cases can proceed at the same time.
At The Simon Law Group, it costs nothing upfront. We handle invasion of privacy cases on a contingency fee basis. That means we only get paid if we win your case. Our fee comes from the recovery — not from your pocket. There are no hourly rates, no retainers, and no bills while the case is active. Your first consultation is free. Call us at (844) 843-8326 or visit our free case review page to get started.
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