Facts
On April 6, 1990, an article titled "No Limit for Snoopers" was published in the magazine "Z.", in which the Commander of the Aargau Cantonal Police, [Y.], was referred to as a "snooper", an "FBI-trained 'bug' specialist", and a "weapons fanatic". [Y.] subsequently filed a lawsuit against the publisher of the magazine, X. AG, seeking a declaration that the article had unlawfully violated his personality.
The District Court of Aarau partially upheld the claim and found that the article had unlawfully violated the plaintiff's personality. The appeal filed by X. AG against this decision was dismissed by the High Court of the Canton of Aargau.
X. AG then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, requesting the annulment of the High Court's judgment and the dismissal of the claim. [Y.] requested the dismissal of the appeal and the confirmation of the contested decision.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court found that the terms "snooper", "FBI-trained 'bug' specialist", and "weapons fanatic" had unlawfully violated the plaintiff's personality.
The term "snooper" was considered defamatory, as it accused the plaintiff of participating in the collection of personal data outside of specific criminal investigations, which was not true.
The designation as an "FBI-trained 'bug' specialist" was also considered a violation of personality, as it suggested that the plaintiff had…