Ms. Barbara Cortillo has retained our law firm to determine whether she has a claim against Debra Gaston. Ms. Cortillo believes that Gaston trespassed onto Ms. Cortillo's land. I met with Ms. Cortillo last week and she decided that she is only interested in a trespass claim and only if success is likely.

Ms. Cortillo's property is located in the Second District, California Court of Appeal. After my interview with her, I did some research and found that the following three cases apply: Miller v. National Broadcasting Company (a California case), Baugh v. CBS, Inc. (a federal case), and Mangini v. Aerojet-General Corporation (a California case). I did not make a note of the citations. Please access these cases on Westlaw. There are two Mangini case decisions that come up in a Westlaw search: one from 1991 (from the California Court of Appeal) and one from 1996 (from the California Supreme Court). Please use the 1991 Mangini decision. Use only these three cases to analyze Ms. Cortillo's potential claim. Do not conduct any other research or address any other potential claims or damages.

Ms. Cortillo stated the following facts during my interview with her.

Two large mansions known as Casa Cortillo and Paradiso sit in the foothills east of Santa Barbara. Casa Cortillo's fourteen acres are adjacent to the public road, which marks that estate's north boundary.
Paradiso's seventeen acres lie to the south of Casa Cortillo. The only access to Paradiso is by way of a gated road on a private easement along the east boundary of Casa Cortillo. Barbara Cortillo owns and

lives at Casa Cortillo, but the ownership and occupancy of Paradiso are uncertain.

Debra Gaston is a successful photojournalist who specializes in taking unauthorized pictures of well- known persons. Three weeks ago, Gaston's key contact at the nation's largest tabloid gave her a tip that a prominent senator, Alexis Madison, was engaged in an extramarital relationship with a 26-year- old man, nicknamed "Cowboy."

After researching the story for some time, Gaston learned on the last day of June that the senator and Cowboy would be together at Paradiso for the Fourth of July holiday. On July 1, Gaston rented a piloted helicopter to fly her over Paradiso and the surrounding area to get a good look at the property. She saw that the only vantage point for good photographs was a cleared knoll on the south edge of Casa Cortillo.

On July 3, Gaston visited Cortillo, carrying a forged letter of introduction from an editor of Nature magazine. Gaston then explained what was stated in the letter: that she was seeking to photograph an endangered bird that nests in the Santa Barbara foothills. She asked permission to enter Casa Cortillo the next day with her photography equipment for that purpose. Cortillo gave Gaston permission.

The next day, July 4, Gaston arrived at 9:00 a.m., paid a courtesy visit to Cortillo and then hiked with her gear to the knoll. She began surveillance of Paradiso at 9:50 a.m. and at various times of the day took pictures of the senator. She took a few pictures of the front door of the mansion, about a dozen pictures of Cowboy walking in the rose garden and by the pool, and several pictures of the senator and Cowboy in the pool, on the deck, and engaged in sexual activity. Gaston thanked Ms. Cortillo for her authorization to photograph as she left Casa Cortillo that evening.

A few weeks later, at the time of a major political convention, the nation's largest tabloid published several of the more intimate pictures of the senator and Cowboy. Ms. Cortillo's neighbor saw the pictures and asked Ms. Cortillo about them. Ms. Cortillo is extremely upset about the situation.

 

Briefly  explain the , analysis and conclusion for this case.