1 Introduction 1 Introduction

1.1 Mele v. Turner ("The Northwestern Student Case") 1.1 Mele v. Turner ("The Northwestern Student Case")

Try to label the major parts of the decision. What sections make up the anatomy of an ordinary torts case?

Attorneys and Law Firms

**787 Kenneth Le Master, *74 Gary House, Jack Hepfer, Lee, Smart, Cook, Martin & Patterson, John Powers, Seattle, for petitioners.
Pence & Dawson, Christopher Pence, Kelby Fletcher, Seattle, for respondent.

ANDERSEN, Justice.
FACTS OF CASE
At issue here is whether an adult, who was mowing his neighbors' lawn using the neighbors' rotary lawn mower, is entitled to recover damages from his neighbors for injuries which resulted when he put his hand in or under the running mower. We hold that under the facts presented, he is not.
On June 19, 1980, Ann Garrett told neighbor Dolores Turner that her 13-year-old son would mow the Turners' lawn using the Turners' rotary lawn mower. The next day, however, the boy was unable to mow the lawn, so his *75 mother asked plaintiff, an 18 (almost 19)-year-old student at Northwestern University, if he would do so. Plaintiff agreed.
Garrett's son showed plaintiff the push-type, Sears-Roebuck rotary lawn mower, told him how to start it, what area to mow and where to put the grass clippings. The boy then went home.
**788 After plaintiff had been mowing for about 20 minutes, Mrs. Turner returned home from work. Plaintiff told her that he was substituting and she agreed to this arrangement. She determined that plaintiff knew which areas to mow and stated that they would discuss payment afterwards. Plaintiff did not indicate that he was having any difficulty with either the lawn mower or his lawn mowing task. Satisfied, Mrs. Turner went inside the house.
Plaintiff mowed for 1 to 1½ hours without incident. He emptied the grass catcher periodically as it became full and each time noticed that grass clippings accumulated around the mouth of the mower's discharge chute as well as in front of the chute. Without turning the mower off, plaintiff would sweep away these clippings with his left hand. After doing this a few times, and in the course of doing it again, he placed his fingers under the chute and into the mower housing. The spinning rotary blade hit his hand, causing injury to four fingers.
Plaintiff sued both the Turners and the Garretts, alleging that they had breached duties to provide him with a safe lawn mower and to warn him of the dangers associated with running the mower. The trial court granted defendants' motions for summary judgment, stating that
plaintiff injured his hand by putting it into the whirling cutter blade when the lawnmower was running; that there was no duty on the part of any of the defendants to warn the plaintiff, who was a college student, that if he put his fingers into the whirling blade he could suffer serious injury.
In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed *76 the trial court and remanded for trial.1 We granted review.
Whether or not the defendants owed a duty to the plaintiff is a question of law for this court.2 Accordingly, two principal issues are here presented.
ISSUES
ISSUE ONE. Under the facts of this case, did the defendants breach a duty owed to the plaintiff under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 390?
ISSUE TWO. Under the facts of this case, did the defendants breach a duty owed to the plaintiff under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388?
DECISION
ISSUE ONE.
1
CONCLUSION. No evidence was presented that the defendants knew or had reason to know that the plaintiff, an 18-year-old college student, would likely use an ordinary walk behind rotary lawn mower in a manner involving unreasonable risk of harm to himself. Thus the Court of Appeals erred when, on the basis of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 390, it reversed the trial court's entry of a summary judgment of dismissal.
Chattel for Use by Person Known to be Incompetent
One who supplies directly or through a third person a chattel for the use of another whom the supplier knows or has reason to know to be likely because of his youth, inexperience, or otherwise, to use it in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical harm to himself and others whom the supplier should expect to share in or be endangered by its use, is subject to liability for physical harm resulting to them.
**789 *77 (Italics ours.) This is the law of this state.3
“This Section deals with the supplying of a chattel to a person incompetent to use it safely ...” (Italics ours.)4
The kinds of “incompetency” which come within this rule are set forth in the “Illustrations” prepared by the authors of the Restatement. These include: giving a loaded gun to a feeble minded child of 10; permitting a 10-year-old child, who has never driven an automobile before, to drive one; permitting one's chauffeur, who is in the habit of driving at excessive speeds, to drive the car on an errand of his own; lending one's car to a friend to drive to a dance, knowing that the friend habitually becomes intoxicated at dances; and renting an automobile to a person who says that he plans to drive it from Boston to New York in 3 hours to win a bet.5 Washington cases have followed this pattern, holding that liability may be imposed under Section 390 for selling a gun to an intoxicated person6 and for lending an automobile to someone known (or who should have been known) to be a reckless driver and likely to become intoxicated and drive.7
Even if we assume that there is evidence of the plaintiff's “incompetency” to operate a rotary lawn mower sufficient to survive a motion for summary judgment, we are still left with a total dearth of evidence that the defendants knew or should have known of that incompetency. There is simply nothing in the record to show that the plaintiff was “likely because of his youth, inexperience, or otherwise, to use [the rotary mower] in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical harm to himself and *78 others”.8 There is no requirement of law or reason mandating that someone asking a neighbor to mow a lawn must question that neighbor's competency when he is a college student 2 months shy of 19 who lacks obvious physical or mental impairment.
ISSUE TWO.
2
CONCLUSION. Where the alleged “dangerous condition” of the lawn mower was both obvious and known to the plaintiff, the defendants owed him no duty to warn of such condition. The plaintiff has no cause of action under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388.
Plaintiff also argues that he has a claim under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388 (1965), which reads:
Chattel Known to be Dangerous for Intended Use.
One who supplies directly or through a third person a chattel for another to use is subject to liability to those whom the supplier should expect to use the chattel with the consent of the other or to be endangered by its probable use, for physical harm caused by the use of the chattel in the manner for which and by a person for whose use it is supplied, if the supplier
(a) knows or has reason to know that the chattel is or is likely to be dangerous for the use for which it is supplied, and
(b) has no reason to believe that those for whose use the chattel is supplied will realize its dangerous condition, and
(c) fails to exercise reasonable care to inform them of its dangerous condition or of the facts which make it likely to be dangerous.
(Italics ours.) This is also the law of this state.9
A warning was stamped on the lawn mower casing: “Keep hands and feet from **790 under mower”. The plaintiff says he didn't see this because it was obscured by grass clippings and otherwise not apparent. He then argues that the tendency of the wet grass to accumulate near the mouth of the *79 mower's discharge chute, together with the spinning blade just inside the discharge chute, created a dangerous condition about which the defendants should have warned him.
In order to have a claim under Section 388, a party must satisfy all three subsections (a), (b) and (c). For the sake of this summary judgment proceeding, we will assume that either the accumulation of wet grass by the mower's discharge chute or the spinning blade behind the mouth of the discharge chute, or both, rendered the mower “dangerous for the use for which it is supplied”. Section 388(a). Before he can establish that a duty to warn of these conditions arose, however, plaintiff must show that his neighbors had no reason to believe he would realize the mower's potential danger. Section 388(b).
As to this, the Restatement instructs:
When warning of defects unnecessary. One who supplies a chattel to others to use for any purpose is under a duty to exercise reasonable care to inform them of its dangerous character in so far as it is known to him, or of facts which to his knowledge make it likely to be dangerous, if, but only if, he has no reason to expect that those for whose use the chattel is supplied will discover its condition and realize the danger involved. It is not necessary for the supplier to inform those for whose use the chattel is supplied of a condition which a mere casual looking over will disclose, unless the circumstances under which the chattel is supplied are such as to make it likely that even so casual an inspection will not be made.
(Second italics ours.) Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388, comment k (1965).
 
In this regard, the policy of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388 is similar to that of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A.10 As this court held in a Section 402A products liability action against a manufacturer,
a warning need not be given at all in instances where a *80 danger is obvious or known.11
The danger involved in this case was both known and obvious to the plaintiff. He stated that each time he emptied the grass catcher, he noticed that there was some grass at the opening of the discharge chute and cleaned it with his hand before replacing the catcher. As he candidly admitted in the affidavit he filed in opposition to the defendants' motions for summary judgment,
I obviously realized that one should not put his hand under the machine where the blade runs ...12
(Italics ours.)
Since the “dangerous condition” of the lawn mower that the plaintiff had been using for 1 to 1½ hours before his injury was obvious and known to him according to his own affidavit, the defendants had no legal duty to warn him of such a condition. Our conclusion in this regard is unaffected by the plaintiff's statement that “I could not see the turning blade and I believed it did not extend where I was reaching.”13 The blade did not come out of the housing containing it to strike the plaintiff's fingers; the plaintiff admitted that he knew he should not put his hand under the mower. Furthermore, as held in Ragsdale v. K–Mart Corp., 468 N.E.2d 524, 527 (Ind.Ct.App.1984), another rotary lawn mower case:
The fact that the mower blade is not clearly exposed to the user of the mower **791 does not make it a hidden, and thus latent, danger.
The plaintiff's remaining contentions under common law master/servant principles essentially overlap his contentions under Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 388 and 390. Even were we to agree that plaintiff was an employee of some or all of the defendants at the time of his injury, we find our analysis regarding plaintiff's earlier arguments dispositive *81 of his master/servant contentions.
The trial court's order granting summary judgment for the defendants on liability was proper.14
The Court of Appeals is reversed and the trial court's judgment is reinstated.
DOLLIVER, C.J., and BRACHTENBACH, GOODLOE and DURHAM, JJ., concur.

Dissent

Hide all concurrence and dissent visual indicators.
PEARSON, Justice (dissenting).
The majority incorrectly frames the issue in this case as whether plaintiff “is entitled to recover damages from his neighbors for injuries which resulted when he put his hand in or under the running mower.” Majority opinion, at 787. In reality, the issue before the trial court, the Court of Appeals, and now this court, is whether the defendants had a duty to warn plaintiff of the lawn mower's dangerous condition.
 
 The majority apparently believes this case presents an issue of liability when, in fact, the issue is one of duty. The distinction is important. This court's function is to determine whether defendants owe a particular duty to the plaintiff; but it is the jury's function to determine whether the defendants should be held liable for a breach of that duty. By transmogrifying a duty question into a liability question, the majority usurps an important function of the jury. Accordingly, I dissent.
The procedural context of this case is important. It comes to us after the trial court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment, holding that, as a matter of law, the defendants had no duty to warn plaintiff of the lawn mower's dangerous condition. Because the trial court decided this case on an order of summary judgment, this court must engage in the same inquiry as the trial judge. Wilson v. Steinbach, 98 Wash.2d 434, 437, 656 P.2d 1030 (1982). A summary judgment pursuant to CR 56(c) can be granted only if there is no genuine issue as to any material *82 fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Wilson, at 437, 656 P.2d 1030. In reviewing the motion for summary judgment, this court “must consider all facts submitted and all reasonable inferences from the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party”, Wilson, at 437, 656 P.2d 1030, in this case plaintiff.
In Fleming v. Stoddard Wendle Motor Co., 70 Wash.2d 465, 467–68, 423 P.2d 926 (1967), this court adopted Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388 (1965). Section 388 defines the liability of a supplier1 of a dangerous chattel for failure to disclose the danger to the user. This duty to disclose arises if the supplier
(a) knows or has reason to know that the chattel is or is likely to be dangerous for the use for which it is supplied, and
(b) has no reason to believe that those for whose use the chattel is supplied will realize its dangerous condition ...
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388 (1965); Fleming, at 468, 423 P.2d 926. If these two conditions are satisfied, the supplier has a duty to disclose. The supplier is liable for a user's injuries, however, only if he “fails to exercise reasonable care to inform [the user] of its dangerous condition or of the facts which make it likely to be dangerous.” Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388(c) (1965).
**792 Although a duty issue constitutes a pure question of law, a determination that a duty exists under § 388 requires a certain amount of fact finding. In particular, the court must determine whether the supplier knew or had reason to know the chattel was dangerous. § 388(a). Furthermore, the court must determine whether the supplier had reason to believe the user realized its dangerous condition. § 388(b).
 
 Because these factual questions must be answered before a court can resolve the legal question of whether a duty attaches, *83 summary judgment on the duty question would be appropriate only if there was no genuine issue as to these material facts. A genuine issue exists if reasonable persons could reach more than one conclusion. Cf. Morris v. McNicol, 83 Wash.2d 491, 494–95, 519 P.2d 7 (1974).
As I interpret § 388, a supplier of a chattel has a duty to disclose if the supplier knew the chattel was dangerous and had no reason to believe the user recognized the danger. In this case, reasonable persons arguably could reach but one conclusion on the factual question of whether defendants knew or had reason to know the rotary lawn mower was dangerous. Reasonable persons could differ, however, on the question of whether the defendants had no reason to believe plaintiff realized its dangerous condition. The record clearly shows the plaintiff had never used the defendants' mower before the day of the accident. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the defendants had ever observed plaintiff using a similar type of lawn mower. In short, I fail to see how the majority could arrive at the factual conclusion, implicit in its holding, that the defendants did have reason to believe the plaintiff understood the dangers of that particular type of mower.
The majority points to a portion of plaintiff's affidavit in which he stated that he “obviously realized that one should not put his hand under the machine where the blade runs ...” Majority opinion, at 790. Based on this statement, the majority concludes that “[s]ince the ‘dangerous condition’ of the lawn mower ... was obvious and known to him ... the defendants had no legal duty to warn him of such a condition.” Majority opinion, at 790. I have two responses to the majority's analysis.
In the first place, I believe the majority places far too much weight on plaintiff's statement that he realized the dangers associated with placing one's hand “under” a running lawn mower. Plaintiff did not thrust his hand “under” the defendants' mower, as the majority suggests, but rather swept away grass clippings that accumulated at the discharge chute. The mower blade apparently reaches quite *84 near the chute's mouth, but is difficult to observe due to the speed of the blade's rotation. Unlike those who normally operated this mower and were aware that the discharge chute frequently clogged, plaintiff was unaware of the danger of sweeping accumulated clippings from the chute's opening.
Regardless, the question under § 388(b) is not whether the danger was obvious to plaintiff, but rather whether the defendants had reason to believe that plaintiff realized its dangerous condition. As stated above, there is a dearth of evidence in the record suggesting that the defendants had reason to believe plaintiff realized the dangers associated with that particular mower. I do not suggest that the defendants could not adduce such evidence, but rather that such evidence does not exist in the record before this court. Without such evidence, I am unable to conclude that, as a matter of law, the defendants had no duty to warn plaintiff of the mower's dangerous condition. Accordingly, I would affirm the Court of Appeals decision reversing the trial court's entry of summary judgment, but under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388, rather than § 390.
DORE and UTTER, JJ., and WINSON, J. Pro Tem., concur.

All Citations

106 Wash.2d 73, 720 P.2d 787

Footnotes

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 390, comment b, illustrations 1–5 (1965).
Bernethy v. Walt Failor's, Inc., supra.
Cameron v. Downs, supra.
Affidavit of John Mele, at 3.
Affidavit of John Mele, at 2.
Because I do not believe the Garretts are “suppliers” within the contemplation of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388, I would not apply § 388 analysis to plaintiff's claim against them. I express no opinion on the question of whether the Garretts owed plaintiff some duty under other principles of tort law.

1.2 Howard v. Aspen Way Enterprises, Inc. ("The Privacy Case") 1.2 Howard v. Aspen Way Enterprises, Inc. ("The Privacy Case")

Which court is issuing this opinion? What is it trying to decide and how does the restatement fit into its decision-making process?

2017 WY 152

Gretchen HOWARD, Petitioner, v. ASPEN WAY ENTERPRISES, INC., d/b/a Aaron’s Sales and Leasing, a franchise of Aaron’s, Inc., Respondent. Audrey Kinion, Petitioner, v. Aspen Way Enterprises, Inc., d/b/a Aaron’s Sales and Leasing, a franchise of Aaron’s, Inc., Respondent. Steve Winn, Petitioner, v. Aspen Way Enterprises, Inc., d/b/a Aaron’s Sales and Leasing, a franchise of Aaron’s, Inc., Respondent.

S-17-0072

S-17-0073

S-17-0074

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

December 19, 2017

*1272Representing Appellant: John H. Robinson of Jamieson & Robinson, LLC, Casper, WY; R. Daniel Fleck of The Spence Law Firm, LLC, Jackson, WY; and John P. LaBuda of LaBuda Law Office, PC, Pinedale, WY. Argument by Messrs. Robinson and LaBuda.

Representing Appellee: Adam Warren and Adam J. Tunning of Moulton Bellingham PC, Billings, MT; and Jeff S. Meyer of Murane & Bostwick, LLC, Casper, WY. Argument by Mr. Warren.

Before BURKE, C.J., and HILL, DAVIS, FOX, and KAUTZ, JJ.

HILL, Justice.

[¶1] Gretchen Howard, Audrey Kinion, and Steve Winn (Plaintiffs) individually filed separate claims in circuit court asserting invasion of privacy claims against Aspen Way Enterprises, Inc. (Aspen Way). The circuit court concluded that Wyoming does not recognize a cause of action for Plaintiffs’ privacy claims and granted Aspen Way summary judgment on those claims. Plaintiffs appealed, and the district court affirmed on the same basis. We granted the Plaintiffs’ petitions for writ of review, consolidated their petitions, and now reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

ISSUES

[¶2] Plaintiffs present three issues on appeal, which they state as follows:

1. Whether Wyoming recognizes the tort of invasion of privacy.
2. If so, whether Wyoming recognizes the elements of the tort of invasion of privacy/intrusion upon seclusion as set forth in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652B (1977).
3. Whether genuine issues of material fact preclude entry of summary judgment.

FACTS

[¶3] Aspen Way owns a rent-to-own franchise in Casper, Wyoming, operating under the name Aaron’s Sales and Leasing. Plaintiffs each leased a computer from Aspen Way pursuant to lease-purchase agreements, and in May 2015, Plaintiffs individually filed separate complaints against Aspen Way related to those agreements. The complaints each generally alleged that Aspen Way installed software on Plaintiffs’ leased computers, without Plaintiffs’ knowledge, that enabled Aspen Way to track the leased computers’ locations, remotely activate the computers’ webcams, and capture screen shots and key strokes.1 Based on these allegations, Plaintiffs asserted that claims for invasion of privacy/intrusion upon seclusion' and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

*1273[¶4] Plaintiffs filed their separate complaints in the circuit court for Natrona County. Aspen Way answered each complaint and subsequently filed motions for summary judgment on each complaint. As grounds for summary judgment, Aspen Way asserted Wyoming does not recognize a cause of action for Plaintiffs’ privacy claims and that even if Wyoming did recognize such a claim, no genuine issue of. material fact exists with respect to either Plaintiffs’ privacy claims or their claims for breach of the .covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Plaintiffs responded with their oppositions.

[¶5] On May 11, 2016, the circuit court issued orders in the three cases seeking certification of questions of law to the district court, including the question of whether Wyoming recognizes a cause of action for Plaintiffs’ privacy claims.2 The district court rejected the certified questions in each case, and the circuit court then ruled on Aspen Way’s summary judgment motions, granting them in part and denying them in part. With respect to Plaintiffs’ privacy claims, the court ruled such claims were not recognized in Wyoming and granted Aspen Way summary judgment. With respect to the claims for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, the court found genuine issues of material fact and denied summary judgment on those claims. As to the privacy claims, the court ruled its judgment was final and ap-pealable.

[¶6] Plaintiffs filed timely notices of appeal to the district court in each case. On February 23, 2017, the district court issued orders affirming the circuit court orders. In so ruling, the court observed:

* * * [A]t this time, there is simply not the historical and judicial context to declare that Wyoming definitively recognizes the tort of invasion of privacy/intrusion upon seclusion. In the absence of a clear indication that Wyoming would recognize such a claim, this Court will not presume upon the functions of the Wyoming Supreme Court with regard to the proper development of the common law in Wyoming.'

[¶7] On March 10, 2017, Plaintiffs filed petitions for writ of review in each ease, and on April 4, 2017, this Court issued orders granting the petitions and consolidating the cases for appeal.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶8] We review the circuit court’s entry of summary judgment de novo, meaning we consider the same materials and apply the same standards as the circuit court. Elec. Wholesale Supply Co., Inc. v. Fraser, 2016 WY 105, ¶ 13, 356 P.3d 254, 258 (Wyo. 2015). “We examine the record from the vantage point most favorable to the party opposing the motion, and we give that party the benefit of all favorable inferences which may fairly be drawn from the record.” Id. (quoting Baker v. Speaks, 2014 WY 117, ¶ 9, 334 P.3d 1215, 1219 (Wyo. 2014)). The question of whether a cause of action is or will be recognized, in Wyoming is a question of law we review de novo. Townsend v. Living Centers Rocky Mountain, Inc., 947 P.2d 1297, 1298 (Wyo. 1997).

DISCUSSION

[¶9] Plaintiffs ask this Court to recognize a common law cause of action for the invasion of privacy tort defined by the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1977) as intrusion upon seclusion. Aspen Way argues against recognizing a common law cause of action for Plaintiffs’ privacy claims, contending that if such a cause of action is to be recognized in Wyoming, it should be created and defined by legislative action. We agree with Plaintiffs that the Restatement cause of action for intrusion upon seclusion is consistent with the value our state places on privacy, and we therefore recognize the tort as part of Wyoming’s common law.

*1274A. Intrusion upon Seclusion as Defined by Restatement (Second) of Torts

[¶10] The Restatement (Second) of Tqrts generally defines liability for an invasion of privacy as follows:

(1) One who invades the right of privacy of another is subject to liability for the resulting harm to the interests of the other.
(2) The right of privacy is invaded by
(a) unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another, as stated in § 652B; or
(b) appropriation of the other’s name or likeness, as stated in § 662C; or
(c) unreasonable- publicity given to the other’s private life, as stated in § 652D; or
(d) publicity that unreasonably places the other in a false light before the public, as stated in § 662E.

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 662A (1977).

[¶11] The strand of the privacy tort Plaintiffs assert, and the one they ask this Court to recognize,, is intrusion upon seclusion, which the Restatement defines as follows:

One who intentionally intrudes, physically or- otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another or his private affairs or concerns, is subject to liability to the other- for invasion of his privacy, if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652B (1977).

[¶12] The comments, to the section 652B explain the tort’s parameters and the showing required to establish its elements.

а. The form of invasion of privacy covered by this Section does not depend upon any publicity given to the person whose interest is invaded or- to his affairs. It consists solely of an intentional interference with his interest in solitude or seclusion, either as to his person or as to his private affairs or concerns, of a kind that would be highly offensive to a reasonable man.
б, The invasion may be by physical intrusion into a place in which the plaintiff has secluded himself, as when the defendant forces his way into the plaintiffs room in a hotel or insists over the plaintiffs objection in entering his home. It may also be by the use of the defendant’s senses, with or without mechanical aids, to oversee or overhear the plaintiffs private affairs, as by looking into his upstairs windows with binoculars or tapping his telephone wires. It may be by some other form of investigation or examination into his private concerns, as by opening his private and personal mail, searching his safe or his wallet, examining his private bank account, or compelling him by a forged court order to permit an inspection of his personal documents, The intrusion itself makes the defendant subject to liability, even though there is no publication or other use of any kind of the photograph or information outlined,
c. The defendant is subject to liability under the rule stated in this Section only when he has intruded into a private place, or has otherwise invaded a private seclusion that the plaintiff has thrown about his person or affairs. Thus there is no liability for the examination of a public record concerning the plaintiff, or of documents that the plaintiff is required to keep and make available for public, inspection. Nor is there liability for observing him or even taking his photograph while he is walking on the public highway, since he is not then in seclusion, and his appearance is public and open to,.the public eye. Even in a public place, however, there may be some matters about the plaintiff, such as his underwear or lack of it, that are not exhibited to the public gaze; and there may still be invasion of privacy when there is intrusion upon these matters.
d. There is likewise no liability unless the interference with the plaintiff’s seclusion is a substantial one, of a kind that would be highly offensive to the ordinary reasonable man, as the result of conduct to which the reasonable man would strongly object. Thus there is no liability for knocking at the plaintiffs door, or calling him to the telephone on one occasion or even two or three, to demand payment of a debt. It is only when the telephone calls are repeated with such persistence and frequency as to amount to a course of hounding the plaintiff, that becomes a substantial *1275burden to his existence, that his privacy is invaded.

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652B (Í977) (illustrations omitted),

[¶13] As to damages for invasion of. privacy, the Restatement provides:

One who has established a cause, of action for invasion of his privacy is entitled to recover damages for
(a) the harm to his interest in privacy resulting from the invasion;
(b) his mental distress proved to have been suffered if it is of a kind that normally results from such an invasion; and
(c) special dairiage of which the invasion is a legal cause.'

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652H (1977).

B, Recognition of Claim in Other Jurisdictions

[¶14] A recent survey of the intrusion upon seclusion claim’s recognition in other jurisdictions shows majority support for the Restatement approach to the claim.

This section provides a survey of the recognition of intrusion upon seclusion in the fifty states, whether it is recognized under common law or statute, and whether the jurisdiction follows the Restatement (Second) of Tort’s formulation or deviates from the definition of intrusion in section 6B2B. Currently, the vast majority of states recognize the intrusion, strand of invasion -of privacy either under common law or by statute. The following states recognize intrusion upon seclusion under common law and follow the Restatement’s formulation, either explicitly adopting it or closely mirroring the Restatement’s definition and description of the cause of action: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, .Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, • South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.
Decisions from several other jurisdictions indicate that intrusion is recognized under common law, but these states haye not adopted or have not followed the Restatement’s formulation. These states are Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, and South Carolina.
Several other states recognize intrusion by statute: Massachusetts, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Utah, while recognizing intrusion under common law, also has a criminal statute that is of particular ■.interest to this Note. Utah’s statute provides that .an individual is guilty of a privacy violation if-he “[ijnstalls in any private place, without the consent of the person or persons entitled to privacy there, any device for observing, photographing, recording, amplifying, or broadcasting sounds or events in the place or uses any such unauthorized installation.” Michigan has a similar statute.
Two states explicitly have refused to recognize intrusion; these states are New York and Virginia, both of which limit recovery for invasion of privacy claims by statute and only recognize a cause of action for misappropriation of one’s name, picture, or portrait for commercial purposes without consent.
Finally, two states do not appear to have decided if they will recognize intrusion claims: North Dakota and Wyoming. ,

Eli A. Meltz, Note, No Harm, No Foul? “Attempted” Invasion of Privacy and the Tort of Intrusion Upon Seclusion, 83 Ford-ham L. Rev. 3431, 3440-43 (2015) (footnotes omitted).

[¶16] In adopting the Restatement approach to invasion of privacy, rather than deferring to legislative enactment, one court explained:

“Although there was no distinctive tort of invasion of privacy in early common law, it has evolved in most jurisdictions based on common law principles sometimes eom-pared to trespass. It is unnecessary for the Legislature to. enact a law to create this tort in. abrogation of the common law. The common law ... refers not only to the ancient unwritten law of England, but also to that body of law created and preserved by decisions of courts. The common law is not static, but is a dynamic and growing thing and its rules arise from the applica*1276tion of reason to the changing conditions of society.” McCormack v. Oklahoma Publishing Co., 613 P.2d 737, 740 (Okl.1980). Indeed, as the United States Supreme Court noted in Hurtado v. California, 110 U.S. 516, 530, 4 S.Ct. 111, 118, 28 L.Ed. 232 (1884), “[t]his flexibility and capacity for growth and adaptation is the peculiar boast and excellence of the common law,” and this reasoning has been followed by a number of courts that have recognized the privacy right of action. See, e.g., Birnbaum v. United States, 436 F.Supp. 967, 978 (E.D.N.Y.1977), aff'd in part, rev’d in part, 588 F.2d 319, 325 (2d Cir. 1978).

Goodrich v. Waterbury Republican-American, Inc., 188 Conn. 107, 448 A.2d 1317, 1328-29 (1982).

[¶16] We turn then to the question of whether this Court should likewise join the majority recognition of the intrusion upon seclusion tort.

C. Wyoming Common Law

[¶17] The Wyoming legislature long ago adopted the common law, making it “the rule of decision in this state when not inconsistent with the laws thereof,” and “of full force until repealed by legislative authority.” Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 8-1-101 (LexisNexis 2017). The determination we must therefore make is not whether this Court should “adopt” the tort of intrusion upon seclusion, but rather whether the tort has been repealed by statute or is otherwise inconsistent with Wyoming law— that is, whether the tort is part of Wyoming’s common law. See Briefing.com v. Jones, 2006 WY 16, ¶ 12, 126 P.3d 928 (Wyo. 2006) (noting that the question is not whether to adopt a common law tort but is instead whether the tort exists as part of Wyoming’s common law).

[¶18] The legislature has not repealed any of the common law privacy torts, and Aspen Way does not contend otherwise. The question then is whether the intrusion upon seclusion tort, and the protection it provides an injured party, is consistent with Wyoming law. We conclude that it is.

[¶19] In considering whether to recognize a causé of action as part of Wyoming’s common law, we have said:

[T]he common law is “applicable” within the intent of the adopting statute [Wyo. Stat. Ann. 8-1-101] if it is “applicable to the habits and condition of our society, and in harmony with the genius, spirit and objects of our institutions.” Crawford v. Barber, 385 P.2d 655, 657 (Wyo.1963) (quoting Fuchs v. Goe, 62 Wyo. 134, 163 P.2d 783, 792 (1945)). The principles of the common law adopted for this State are only those “adapted to our circumstances, state of society, and form of government.” Fuchs, 163 P.2d at 792 (emphasis in original).

Briefing.com, ¶ 13, 126 P.3d at 935.

[¶20] In keeping with this appi-oach, we have also expressed our willingness to reject common law principles not in keeping with our circumstances.

We have not hesitated to overrule cases that were based on what was perceived to be the common law at the time the decisions were handed down. McClellan v. Tottenhoff, 666 P.2d 408 (Wyo.1983); and Collins v. Memorial Hospital of Sheridan County, 521 P.2d 1339 (Wyo.1974). We are justified in overruling prior cases grounded on the common law if they stand for an unfair and improper rule or have outlived their usefulness, and do not meet changing needs.

Nulls v. Gillette-Campbell Cty. Joint Powers Fire Bd., 797 P.2d 1171, 1173 (Wyo. 1990) (quoting Weaver v. Mitchell, 715 P.2d 1361, 1368 (Wyo. 1986)).

[¶21] When the common law cause of action we are considering is a tort, we begin with our understanding that a tort is a “civil wrong * * *; a breach of a duty that the law imposes on persons who stand in a particular relation to one another.” Black’s Law Dictionary 1717 (10th ed. 2014); see also Garner v. Hickman, 709 P.2d 407, 413 (Wyo. 1985) (“Generally speaking, and without at tempting an all-inclusive definition, a tort has a meaning similar to wrong and is an unlawful act injurious to another, independent of contract.”). In determining whether a tort should be recognized as part of the Wyoming common law, we must therefore consider the duty imposed by the tort, which -we have defined as follows:

*1277The statement that there is or is not a duty begs the essential question — whether the plaintiffs interests are entitled to legal protection against the defendant’s conduct. * * * ‘[D]uty’ is not sacrosanct in itself, but is only an expression of the sum total of those considerations of policy which lead the law to say that the plaintiff is entitled to protection.

Gates v. Richardson, 719 P.2d 193, 196 (Wyo. 1986) (quoting W. Keeton, Prosser and Keeton on Torts § 54 at 357-58 (1984)).3

[¶22] Turning to considerations of policy, Wyoming’s commitment to individual privacy interests is well established. In 1936, this Court observed that “[t]he home is a favorite of the law. It is there that the citizen can claim the right of privacy, the right to be let alone, on clear grounds.” Town of Green River v. Bunger, 50 Wyo. 52, 58 P.2d 456, 460 (1936). We later affirmed this commitment, stating that “we regard highly the federal constitutional guarantees to privacy as well as the right to privacy in Wyoming.” Employment Sec. Com’n of Wyo. v. Western Gas Processors, Ltd., 786 P.2d 866, 872 (Wyo. 1990) (footnotes omitted).

[¶23] We also understand, however, that constitutional protections limit government rather than private intrusions. Western Gas, 786 P.2d at 872, n.10 (quoting Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478, 48 S.Ct. 564, 572, 72 L.Ed. 944, 956 (1928) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)) (emphasis altered) (“[The con stitutional framers] conferred, as against the government, the right to be left alone — the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.”). The United States Supreme Court has explained:

[T]he Fourth Amendment cannot be translated into a general constitutional ‘right to privacy.’ That Amendment protects individual privacy against certain kinds of governmental intrusion, but its protections go further, and often have nothing to do with privacy at all. Other provisions of the Constitution protect personal privacy from other forms of governmental invasion. But the protection of a person’s general right to privacy — his right to be let alone by other people — is, like the protection of his property and of his very life, left largely to the law of the individual States.

Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 350-51, 88 S.Ct. 507, 510-11, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967) (footnotes omitted) (emphasis added).

[¶24] The Wyoming legislature has recognized the need to protect its citizens’ privacy interests and has acted on this need. See, e.g., Wyo; Stat. Ann. § Í6-4-203(d)(xi) (LexisNex-is 2017) (exempting from public disclosure records “the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy”); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-4-304(a)' (LexisNexis 2017) (criminalizing the act of “looking in a clandestine, surreptitious, prying or secretive nature into an enclosed area where the person being viewed has a reasonable expectation of privacy”); Wyo. Stat. Ann. 6-6-103(b)(i) (LexisNexis 2017) (criminalizing the making of repeated, anonymous tele*1278phone calls that disturb the privacy of persons where the calls were received); Wyo. Stat. Ann. 6-3-504(a)(i) (LexisNexis 2017) (criminalizing act of knowingly and.without authorization accessing a computer, computer system, or computer network); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 21-17-124(b) (LexisNexis 2017) (recognizing university students’ expectation of privacy in electronic writings and communications); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 21-18-318(b) (LexisNexis 2017) (recognizing community college students’ expectation of privacy in electronic writings and communications).

[¶25] Given our state’s' policy favoring privacy interests and the legislative enactments protecting those interests, we find the tort -of intrusion upon seclusion to.be well adapted to our circumstances and state of society. It is therefore appropriate to recognize the tort as part of Wyoming’s common law. See Briefing.com, ¶ 13, 126 P.3d at 936.

[¶26] We also agree with Plaintiffs that the Restatement version of the tort is the approach best suited to our common law.. First, we have relied on the Restatement on numerous occasions to develop our common law. See, e.g., Briefing.com, ¶ 15, 126 P.3d at 936 (using Restatement formulation of trademark infringement tort); Birt v. Wells Fargo Home Mortg., Inc., 2003 WY 102, ¶ 47, 75 P.3d 640, 657-58 (Wyo. 2003) (using Restatement to define tort of negligent misrepresentation); Baker v. Pena, 2001 WY 122, ¶ 1, 36 P.3d 602, 604 (Wyo. 2001) (using Restatement to define exception to landlord immunity from liability); Wilder v. Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, 868 P.2d 211, 225 (Wyo. 1994) (using Restatement to define intentional infliction of emotional distress tort). Additionally, the Restatement formulation of the tort is longstanding, represents the majority rule, and provides an established body of precedent to guide its application, We therefore recognize the tort of intrusion upon seclusion as defined by the Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 652B, with damages as defined by the Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 652H,4

D. Application of Restatement to Present Case

[¶27] The circuit court granted summary judgment to Aspen Way without determining whether there existed any genuine issues of material fact with respect to Plaintiffs’ privacy claims. We addressed a similar circumstance in Baker, where we reversed a district court’s entry of summary judgment on the basis of our decision to recognize a Restatement-defined exception to landlord immunity from liability. We said:

As an appellate court, we are not fact finders in the first instance. The district court’s grant of summary judgment did not determine whether a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether, viewed in the light most favorable to the, tenant, the landlord’s repair made the land more dangerous for use or gave the deck a deceptive appearance of safety. We therefore reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment and remand the case for' such further proceedings as are appropriate and consistent with this decision.

Baker, ¶ 16, 36 P.3d at 608.

[¶28] This Court has also long held that it will not issue advisory opinions. State v. Beazer, 2016 WY 111, ¶ 18, 384 P.3d 267, 273, n.7 (Wyo. 2016);, Cranston v. Thomson, 530 P.2d 726, 728-29 (Wyo. 1975). We have explained that “binding legal determinations made in the abstract and decisions rendered without concrete factual background would be imprecise, subject to speculation, and *1279would create rather than diminish future controversies.” Cranston, 530 P.2d at 729.

[¶29] There have been no factual findings in this case with regard to either the elements of the intrusion upon seclusion tort or Plaintiffs’ claimed damages. Without the context provided by the required factual findings, any determination we might make concerning application of the Restatement provisions to this case would be at risk of being imprecise and speculative. It is thus premature for this Court to make any determinations concerning application of the Restatement provisions to Plaintiffs’ claims, and we agree with Plaintiffs that the proper course is to remand to the circuit court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

CONCLUSION

[¶30] This Court récognizes the tort of intrusion upon seclusion as defined by the Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 652B (1977). We therefore reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.