Harassment: He is also punished in the family

This is a family dispute between a couple and the wife's brother. This brother sent threatening text messages and made malicious calls to his brother-in-law for several months.

The first judge considers that the text messages and telephone messages are private in nature since they are not broadcast to other persons. Therefore, they do not constitute an invasion of privacy even though they are threatening or humiliating.

The couple is appealing to the Court of Cassation: their private lives are disturbed by the large number of messages and their content. According to them, this is a pity even if the messages are not broadcast outside the family sphere.

This is what the Court of Cassation ruled in its judgment of May 20, 2020. It relies in particular on the disturbance caused to the tranquility of the couple by the content, the number of SMS messages and calls received, the duration of this harassment and the aggressive behavior of the perpetrator (acts of violence, degradation, professional disciplinary sanctions).

It recalls the principle of article 1240 of the Civil Code, which provides that a person who causes damage to another person shall make good it.