Publishing Private Phone Number May Be Tortious, Says Court in Case Brought by Shark Tank’s Mr. Wonderful (Kevin O’Leary)
From Judge Beth Bloom’s order today granting default judgment in O’Leary v. Armstrong:
Defendant posted on X Plaintiff’s private cell phone number and encouraged the public to harass Plaintiff, stating “[h]ave you ever wanted to call a real life murderer?! You can NOW! @kevinoleartyv is waiting for your call.”
Following the post, Plaintiff began receiving communications from strangers who had obtained his number directly from Defendant’s post. On March 20, 2025 at 11:32 a.m., Defendant stated he “was forced to delete the murderer @kevinolearytv’s phone number by X. I was in X jail for 12 hours.” As of March 19, 2025, the post had been viewed over 18,000 times.
{To state a claim for public disclosure of private facts under Florida law, “a plaintiff must allege (1) the publication, (2) of private facts, (3) that are offensive, and (4) are not of public concern.”}Â By posting Plaintiff’s private phone number to a social media platform on which Defendant had one million followers, Defendant published Plaintiff’s private facts. The fact was offensive because, as a result, Plaintiff “was flooded with unwanted communications[.]” Although Plaintiff is a public figure, his personal contact information is not of legitimate public concern. Therefore, Plaintiff’s well-pleaded factual allegations are sufficient [under the disclosure tort -EV].
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