What must the plaintiff establish in a case of public disclosure of private facts?

In a case involving public disclosure of private facts, the plaintiff must establish that the private matter was widely publicized. This element is critical because the tort specifically addresses situations where private information is disclosed in a manner that reaches the public, thereby violating the individual's right to privacy. For a claim to succeed, the focus is on whether the information has been disclosed to a substantial part of the community, thus meeting the threshold of "publicity."

To elaborate, the nature of the information disclosed must be such that it is considered private by societal standards, and then it must be shown that this private information was made public. If the information remains confidential or is disclosed only to a limited audience, the claim would generally not succeed. This principle underscores the importance of the wide dissemination of the private facts in establishing the tort.