Also known as: stealthy · stealthily · surreptitious · secret
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct marked by secrecy or furtiveness. The term captures actions taken without disclosure or open acknowledgment, whether to conceal information, obtain an advantage, or avoid detection.
Sydney Santos sued her former employer after learning that a competitor had obtained her proprietary manufacturing process. The employer moved for a protective order, arguing that any production of the documents risked stealth disclosure to rivals through routine discovery channels. The court granted the order and limited access to designated counsel only.
Simone Sanders suffered severe burns after using a cleaning solvent whose active ingredient was compounded under a secret formula. The manufacturer had failed to provide adequate directions for safe use. Sanders sued, claiming the stealth nature of the formula prevented ordinary users from recognizing the danger.
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Stella Shapiro demanded payment from a local business owner after discovering the owner's undisclosed personal relationship. She threatened to expose the secret unless the owner paid. Prosecutors charged Shapiro with theft by extortion based on the threat to reveal the information.
Steven Silva formed a corporation and caused it to purchase property from a venture he secretly controlled at an inflated price. He disclosed the arrangement only to one initial investor. After incorporation the corporation sued Silva to recover the secret profit obtained through the undisclosed transaction.
Sofia Stern received a subpoena seeking production of her company's confidential customer database. She moved to quash, asserting that compliance would force stealth revelation of proprietary commercial information to competitors. The court modified the subpoena to require production under seal with access limited to the parties' experts.
Samuel Soto challenged a police search of his home that occurred without a warrant or announcement. Officers had entered through an unlocked side door at night. Soto argued that the stealth entry violated his reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment.
Stealth involves active concealment or furtive action rather than mere silence. In promoter cases a fiduciary who withholds material facts about a self-dealing transaction engages in stealth when the nondisclosure prevents other investors from learning of the conflict.
Stealth supplies the surreptitious element required for intrusion upon seclusion. Secret recording or hidden observation invades a plaintiff's reasonable expectation of privacy even without publication of the information obtained.
A court may limit discovery when production would allow stealth revelation of trade secrets or confidential commercial information. The order can restrict who may see the materials and require sealed production or limited access.
Threatening to expose a secret that would subject a person to hatred or impair business repute constitutes theft by extortion. The stealth element is the undisclosed nature of the information the defendant threatens to reveal.
A manufacturer using a secret formula must still provide adequate directions for safe use. Failure to do so because the formula's dangers are not apparent to users can result in liability for physical harm caused by the stealth character of the product.
…likely not have his feelings soothed any more by having his property seized openly than by having it seized privately and by stealth. He simply wants his property left alone. And a person can be just as much, if not more, irritated, annoyed and injured by an unceremonious public arrest by a policeman as he is by a…