Court Orders Password Turnover and In Camera Review of Social Media Accounts – EEOC v. Original Honeybaked Ham Co.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] EEOC v. Original Honeybaked Ham Co. of Georgia, Inc., 11 cv 02560 MSK MEH (D. Col. Nov. 7, 2012) This was a lawsuit brought by the EEOC on behalf of 20-22 persons who were allegedly subject…
Court: Customer Consents to Receive Texts by Providing Phone Number to Pharmacy – Pinkard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Pinkard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 12-cv-02902 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 9, 2012) Text messaging lawsuits are out of control.* That said, a district judge granted a motion to dismiss brought by Wal-Mart in a text spam case…
Court Reduces Damages Award if Defendant Honors Injunction – North American Recycling v. Texamet Recycling
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] North American Recycling, LLC, et al. v. Texamet Recycling, LLC, et al., 08-cv-579 (S.D. Ohio) (Order; Aug. 10, 2012) (Report and Recommendation; Nov. 17, 2010) North American Recycling sued Texamet and its principals for defamation. The…
Email That Says “Done .. thanks!” Doesn’t Transfer Copyrights – MVP Entertainment v. Frost
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] MVP Entertainment, Inc. v. Frost, B235100 (Ca. Ct. App. Nov. 7, 2012) [pdf] We enjoy cases where people negotiate or modify contracts via email or other modern methods of communication. The underlying rules haven’t changed, and…
Social Media Producer’s Counterclaims Based on Website Ownership Rejected – Ardis Health v. Nankivell
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Ardis Health v. Nankivell, 11 Civ. 5013 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 23, 2012) One of the many social media ownership disputes we blogged about was Ardis Health v. Nankivell, where a company sought, among other things, social media…
Confirmatory Opt-out Text Message Not Actionable Under the TCPA — Ryabyshchuck v. Citibank
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Ryabyshchuck v. Citibank, 11-CV-1236 – IEG (WVG) (S.D. Ca. Oct. 30, 2012) Ryabyshchuck filled out an online credit card application. A pop-up message displayed when he entered his information alerted him to the fact that by…
Another Court Finds Online Statements With Links Are Not Defamatory – Seldon v. Compass Restaurant
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Seldon v. Compass Restaurant, 2012 NY Slip Op 32673(U) (NY Sup Ct. Oct. 21, 2012) Eric posted about Redmond v. Gawker Media, a California case where the court found that use of…
Data Breach Claim Survives Based on Allegation of Misuse of Personal Information — Burrows v. Purchasing Power
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Burrows v. Purchasing Power, LLC, 12-cv-22800-UU (S.D. Fla. Oct. 18, 2012) [pdf] This is another data breach lawsuit. Some of the claims survive defendants’ motion to dismiss. Purchasing Power runs a preferred purchasing (or discount purchasing)…
Photographer Who Sued Twitter For Copyright Infringement Voluntarily Dismisses Lawsuit — Boffoli v. Twitter
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Boffoli v. Twitter, 12-Cv-0154-RSL (W.D. Wash. Oct. 25, 2012) (Notice of Dismissal) Several months ago, a photographer (Christopher Boffoli) sued Twitter for allegedly not taking down his images that others posted and retweeted. The lawsuit received…
Social Media Discovery Case Update and Tips for Those Seeking Discovery
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] I’m tired of social media discovery cases. Maybe I’m just tired of discovery (that’s civil discovery I’m talking about, not discovery in the conventional sense). Anyway, we keep seeing these cases, courts (and litigants) continue to…