New Jersey Appeals Court Neuters Cell Phone Driving Statute — State v. Malone

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] State v. Malone, 2011 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1738 (N.J. Ct. App. July 1, 2011) New Jersey’s cell phone driving statute suffered a serious blow at the hands of the New Jersey appeals court, which held…

Job Posting to LinkedIn Group Doesn’t Violate Non-Solicitation Clause — Enhanced Network Solutions v. Hypersonic Technologies

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Enhanced Network Solutions Group v. Hypersonic Technologies Corp., 2011 WL 2582870 (Ind. Ct. App. June 30, 2011) Enhanced developed software, and had a relationship with Hypersonic, which modified existing software. The two companies often jointly bid…

Court Finds That the Value of Bartered-For Services Constitutes Loss Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — Animators at Law v. Capital Legal Solutions

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Animators at Law, Inc. v. Capital Legal Solutions, 10cv1342 (E.D. Va.; May 10, 2011) This lawsuit presented an increasingly familiar fact pattern. Employees leave a company and the employer sues the ex-employees under the Computer Fraud…

Judge Ware: Google Not Entitled to “Readily Accessible to the General Public” Defense in Street View Class Action

[Post by Venkat Balasubrmani, with comments from Eric] In re Google Inc. Street View Electronic Communications Litigation, 2011 WL 2571632 (N.D. Cal. June 29, 2011) (Order) (Google’s Motion to Dismiss) (Google’s Reply) (Google’s Supplemental Brief) (EPIC’s Amicus Brief) The multitudinous…

Court Dismisses Misappropriation Claims Against Facebook Over Its Friend Finder Service — Cohen v. Facebook

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Cohen v. Facebook, C 10-5282 RS (N.D. Cal. June 28, 2011) There are a slew of publicity rights lawsuits pending against Facebook. This one alleged that Facebook misappropriated the names and likenesses of Facebook users by…

San Diego County Bar Tackles Lawyer Friend Requests and the Ex Parte Rule

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] The San Diego County Bar Association recently tackled the issue of whether a lawyer’s friend request to an employee of a party violates the rule barring ex-parte communications by a lawyer with a party whom the…

Court Conducts in camera Review of Plaintiff’s Facebook Page to Resolve Discovery Dispute — Offenback v. Bowman

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Offenback v. Bowman, 10-CV-1789 (M.D. Pa.; June 22, 2011) Background: Discovery disputes over Facebook accounts and whether they are discoverable in civil cases are piling up. Courts and litigants continue to grapple with the central problem…

Employer Who Fails to Consistently Enforce Computer Usage Policy Cannot use the Policy to Justify Dismissal — Branson v. Harrah’s

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Branson v. Harrah’s Tunica Corp., et al., 08-cv-02804-BBD-cgc (W.D. Tn; June 3, 2011) (decision) Background: Branson was an employee with the Grand Casino for over ten years, from 1996 to 2007. Harrah’s acquired Grand in 2006….

Bank ACH Fraud Victims Get Mixed Rulings — Experi-Metal v. Comerica Bank & Patco Constr. v. People’s United Bank

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] We have posted on numerous cases involving data breach plaintiffs who are rebuffed by courts because they have not suffered cognizable harm such as out-of-pocket losses. A pair of recent cases involved businesses whose bank accounts…

Injured Pedestrian Can’t Sue Google for Providing Faulty Map Information — Rosenberg v. Harwood

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Rosenberg v. Harwood, No. 100916536 (Utah District Court; May 27, 2011) [pdf] Lauren Rosenberg was struck by an automobile while walking along a rural highway “with heavy traffic and no sidewalks.” She sued the driver of…