Rest In Peace Joan Rivers (Joan Rivers Meets The 7th Circuit)

The stand-up comedy world suffered a great loss last week when Joan Rivers died. Rivers was of course known for her acerbic style. There are those who didn’t like her for that reason. Those in that camp should consider this. Rivers once stood up for a heckler and for her trouble ended up being sued. She had to go to the Seventh Circuit to clear her name.

I discussed this decision in the July 24, 2013 issue of Coverage Opinions. This is a good time to repeat it.

Joan Rivers performed a show at a casino in Wisconsin. During her set she told a joke about Helen Keller. She was heckled by an audience member that had a deaf son. After the show, Ann Bogie, a different audience member, asked Rivers to autograph a book. Bogie expressed frustration to Rivers about the heckler. Rivers responded by expressing sympathy for the heckler because of her son. This exchange between Bogie and Rivers had been filmed and was used – sixteen seconds in all -- as part of an eighty-two minute documentary about Rivers.

Bogie sued Rivers alleging that she was portrayed in the film as having approved of condescending and disparaging remarks by Rivers to the heckler. Bogie alleged that her privacy was invaded by the distribution of the film and it misappropriated her image for commercial purposes without her consent.

The case made it to the Seventh Circuit which addressed several reasons why the District Court was correct in dismissing Bogie’s complaint for failure to state a claim. The Appeals Court in Bogie v. Rosenberg (a/k/a Joan Rivers), 705 F.3d 603 (7th Cir. 2013) held that Bogie’s conversation with Rivers was not in a place that a reasonable person would consider private. While it took place backstage, it was in the presence of several security personnel and a film crew.

In addition, the court held that the alleged intrusion into Bogey’s privacy would not be highly offensive to a reasonable person. “The fact that Bogie was embarrassed to be filmed saying something she regrets having said and now deems offensive does not convert the filming itself into a highly offensive intrusion.”