Patel v. Hussain

485 S.W.3d 153, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 659, 2016 WL 270014
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 21, 2016
DocketNO. 14-14-00459-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 485 S.W.3d 153 (Patel v. Hussain) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patel v. Hussain, 485 S.W.3d 153, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 659, 2016 WL 270014 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

Sharon McCally, Justice

This appeal follows a plaintiffs jury verdict in a “revenge pom” Cáse.1 Specifically, appellee Nadia Hussain sued appellant Akhil Patel, alleging that after the couple broke up, Patel hounded her with a slew of offensive and threatening communications, hacked or attempted to hack her accounts, and posted secretly recorded sexual videos of Nadia on the Internet. The jury found in Nadia’s favor on her claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), intrusion on seclusion, public disclosure' of private facts, and defamation. The jury awarded her damages totaling $500,000, including past and future mental anguish damages, past and future reputa[158]*158tion damages,, and. exemplary damages. The trial court signed a final judgment for $500,000 in damages and a permanent injunction.

On appeal, Patel does not challenge the evidence supporting the liability allegations. Instead, in six issues, Patel contends the trial court erred by (1) denying his motion for JNOV on the defamation claim because the jury found that the publication was substantially true; (2) denying his motion for JNOV because the trial court’s judgment violated the one-satisfaction rule; (3) awarding damages attributable to Nadia’s claim for IIED because this “gap filler” tort was unavailable in the context of this case; (4) awarding mental anguish damages in the judgment because Nadia’s stipulation concerning her social media posts established that Nadia did not have a substantial disruption to her daily routine; (5) awarding mental anguish damages because the evidence is legally and factually insufficient; and (6) awarding exemplary damages when the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support mental anguish damages '

We sustain Patel’s first and third issues and overrule the others. Thus, we modify the trial court’s judgment to remove the damages associated with the defamation and IIED. claims and affirm the judgment as modified, resulting in a judgment of $345,000.

I.BACKGROUND2

A. The Relationship, Pictures, and Videos

Nadia and Patel began a relationship in high school and had an “on-and-off ’ dating relationship for about seven years. Nadia is Muslim and Patel is Hindu, which caused difficulties during the relationship. They broke up in late 2010. During the relationship, Nadia emailed several pictures of herself to Patel that showed her topless and wearing only underwear. Nar dia asked Patel to delete the pictures after she sent them. He didn’t. Also during the relationship, Patel recorded videos of Skype (video chat) conversations during which Nadia undressed herself and masturbated. Nadia did nob consent to being recorded.3

B. Patel’s Frequent Contact and Threats

Patel continued to contact Nadia after they broke up déspite Nadia and her mother, Sakina, telling him to stop in December 2010. At first, Nadia engaged Patel. Patel’s father emailed Nadia in April 2011, asking her to “Please send him a message telling him he has to move on with his life and to leave you alone otherwise you .will have to call the authorities for st[al]king you.” Patel sent Nadia text messages in July 2011 because he wanted to talk with her. She did not respond to most of his text messages. The trial court admitted screenshots of the text messages into evidence, including the following from early July:4

Patel: Retaliation.you think this is retaliation? ??????? Haha retaliation woulda been something totally diff nadia but, THINK back you fuckin genius did I? ? ?
[159]*159Patel: I’m going to give you until 6pm to come up with a better response nadia.
Nadia: ORWHATAKHIL
Patel: Hahha look how quick u respond when you FEEL like ur gonna get hurt ,. do you care about taring me hahahha NOPE.!
Patel: Or what.? ? ? ? Hahah nadia think about it.like I said 6pm to give a better response.
Patel: Do you hold back from anything when you talk to me or the way you act with me . NO, why do you EXPECT ME TO DO THE SAME NADIA? ? ? ? HUH WHY? ? ? ?
Patel: Times up!
Patel: I hope you are happy now!
Patel: You have never given me a chance . and I have given you numerous, times up for you.like I said in the car rmr those-words.
Patel: [Link to a YouTube video]
Patel: Em going to give you until 630pm to come up with, a better response nadia.
Patel: It’s privatized nadia.
Patel: What now u amt gonna respond or what? ? ?
Patel: You know what fuck it.
Patel: If officially lost you right .... what do I have to lose .....
Patel: I’m tired of being ur bitch all the time .... haha all I wanted was to be fíne ... .this is gonna help you cause this is ur health, thank me later.
Patel: [Link to a YouTube video]
Patel: That’s the legit link .... I gave u a chance and u decided to treat me like a dog
Patel: And if that didn’t work .... cheek ur email .... o wait u prolly have all my emails blocked hahah even tho I barely email you hahahah-hahahahah
Patel: Hahahhahaah you don’t have to be like this anymore. Your done.
Patel: And we both know what’s gonna happen now . right? ? ? ? ? ?
Patel: Family will- be very ashamed
[[Image here]]
Patel: You could have prevented this, that’s what’s FUCKING FUNNY. - You didn’t fuckin get what I asked for and u acted in an inappropriate way.
Patel: Stop crying in ur room nadia you had to think at one point you treating me like this was gonna back fire, hah-ha and yet still ur video is private you want me to send it to your mom? ? ? ? ? FUCKING ANSWER ME NADIA?
Patel: Don’t worry like I said only people with the link can view it!! Hahah
Patel: [Link to a YouTube video]
Patel: [Link to a YouTube video]
Patel: That’s the least of your worries
Patel: U need to learn, how to respect people and stop hanging up on people.
Patel: You still have a chance nadia just FYI.
Patel: Unlike you, regardless of how . you treat me_I still -wanna give you a chance, and not say anything to your mom
Patel: [Link to YouTube video]
Patel: Ya and those pics u sent me too gotta see if the google techs can rwcover those too _\ so you can post those too!! So than again more • guys! For you that’s what you wanted right to go thru a bunch of guys!! You warm up to them easily . hahah but can’t talk to a guy that uve known for 7 years ... and were in a relationship and wanted to marry and start a family with ....

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Bluebook (online)
485 S.W.3d 153, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 659, 2016 WL 270014, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patel-v-hussain-texapp-2016.