Family Law Judge Discounts Tweets That Threatened Children and Discussed Alcohol Use – R.M. v. D.Z.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] R.M. v. D.Z., 2013 IL App (3d) 120846-U (Mar. 4, 2013) [
Building Owner Can’t Discover the Identity of Tenant Who Writes Bashing Yelp Review (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Brompton Building, LLC v. Yelp!, Inc., 2013 IL App (1st) 120547-U (Ill. App. Ct. Jan. 31, 2013) Battles over online anonymity aren’t new, and we’ve made a lot of progress clarifying the legal rules. Usually, when a…
Facebook Entry and Blog Post May Support Retaliation Claim – Stewart v. CUS Nashville
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Stewart v. CUS Nashville (Coyote Ugly), 3:11-cv-0342 (M.D. Tenn. Feb. 6, 2013) This is a Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit brought against Coyote Ugly. Among other things, plaintiffs argued that defendants engaged in an illegal tip-pooling…
Employee’s Facebook Vacation Photos Supported Termination for FMLA Abuse — Lineberry v. Detroit Med. Ctr.
[Post By Venkat Balasubramani] Lineberry v. Detroit Med. Center, 11-13752 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 5, 2013) [pdf] Plaintiff worked for Detroit Med Center as a Registered Nurse. One day she woke up with excruciating pain in her back, and her physician…
Another Employee Behaves Badly on Social Media. Really, You “Can’t Make This Up.” — In re Palleschi
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment from Eric] Palleschi v. Cassano, 2013 WL 322573 (N.Y. App. Div. Jan. 29, 2013). The trial court decision. Someone calls 911 complaining of a “gynecological emergency.” A fire dept. employee, an emergency medical…
Social Media Evidence Roundup – January 2013 Edition
Social media discovery disputes continue to pop up in the courts, and courts haven’t settled on a set of uniform rules to deal with these disputes. Here is a roundup of the latest set of cases dealing with the issue…
Tenured Teacher Properly Fired for Facebook Quips About Her Students–In re Tenure Hearing of Jennifer O’Brien
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] In the Matter of the Tenure Hearing of Jennifer O’Brien, State Operated School District of the City of Patterson, Passaic County, 2013 WL 132508 (Jan. 11, 2013) [pdf] O’Brien taught in New…
Virginia Supreme Court: Litigant Who “Cleans up” His Facebook Page May Be Sanctioned
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Allied Concrete v. Lester, 2013 Va. LEXIS 8 (Jan. 10, 2013) This case generated some attention at the trial court phase, but for whatever reason I didn’t have a chance to blog it. Lester and his…
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…
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…