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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a private pilot whose HIV-positive status was improperly shared between government agencies cannot collect damages for the emotional distress suffered when he was punished for hiding his condition from the Federal Aviation Administration. In a case that pitted competing interests of public safety, personal privacy and the broad immunity of the government from liability lawsuits, the court’s more conservative majority found that Congress had not allowed compensation for mental anguish when violations of the Privacy Act of 1974 inflicted no actual damage, like a loss of income.
