Can you get sued for putting a real person&#39;s number in a novel in the United States?
<p>Can you get sued for putting a real person's number in a novel? I see a lot of shows where they make up names like Boogle, instead of using Google, and I also often sees number being read as XXX-XXX-XXXX instead of real numbers or unrealistic numbers like 555-555-5555, so I was wondering if it's because you can get sued for putting a real person's number accidentally. Assume that the country is in the United States. I am thinking if there's no intent, then there's no legal case to be had, but I would like to make sure it's the case in every state in the United States.</p>

<p>Obligatory &quot;you can sue anyone for anything so what you're asking is would a suite be likely to win&quot;</p>
<p>Yes, such a suit would be possible.</p>
<p>While there was no malice, there was arguably negligence. The author could have done any of the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Used a fake number like everyone else</li>
<li>Verified that the number was not in use</li>
<li>Used a number that they controlled so nobody else could use it</li>
</ul>
<p>They chose not to. If this resulted in damages, such as the owner of the number being repeatedly harassed and having to change their number, there would definitely be a case.</p>

civil-law