Knotty Issues of eDiscovery
Social networking websites can be a source of litigation and Human Resources nightmares. These sites can also blur the lines between one’s personal and professional life. In Marshall v. Mayor of Savannah a probationary female firefighter was first reprimanded and then fired for her conduct during the reprimand originating from her MySpace photos. Marshall[…]
Read moreIn United States v. Shelnutt, a member of the press requested the right to “Tweet” a criminal trial on Twitter. The court denied the request pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure Rule 53. United States v. Shelnutt, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101427 (M.D. Ga. Nov. 2, 2009). Federal Rule of Criminal[…]
Read moreA Plaintiff sued Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., for violating his claimed First Amendment rights by banning the Plaintiff from Sony’s Playstation 3 Network for violating Sony’s terms of use. Estavillo v. Sony Computer Entm’t Am. Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86821 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 22, 2009). For those[…]
Read moreActivities on Facebook, YouTube or any social networking site can land you in trouble. People do not have a blank check to do anything online. Key v. Robertson, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51092, (E.D. Va. June 5, 2009) is an example of this situation. When Facebook Goes to a Law[…]
Read moreA Federal Court in Puerto Rico addressed a specific question: What sort of ESI is a social networking message? Is it an email? A blog? Or something else? Maldonado v. Municipality of Barceloneta, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19842 (D.P.R. Mar. 11, 2009) is a case where a party sought a protective order to[…]
Read moreMy first video game system was Colecovision. About the same time my brother and I were playing “Donkey Kong” and “Frogger,” the Romantics were singing “What I Like About You.” One of the most popular game lines today is the “Guitar Hero” series. People enjoy rocking out to classics like[…]
Read moreThe internet is creating emerging legal issues, from jurisdiction to discovery. The identification of anonymous bloggers-posting defamatory statements on the internet–is one of those issues. Judge Rory J. Bellantoni, Ottinger v. Non-Party The Journal News In Ottinger v. Non-Party The Journal News, 2008 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 4579 (N.Y. Sup.[…]
Read moreThe Discovery of Electronically Stored Information has many surprises, ranging from stating the form of production, the inadvertent production of privileged material and defensible search terms. A very surprised lawyer fought a First Amendment objection they probably did not see coming during a deposition. In Quixtar Inc. v.[…]
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