E-discovery

New York Court Horses Around With Facebook Discovery (Forman v. Henkin)

The recent December 17, 2015 opinion in Kelly Forman v. Mark Henkin (NY Appellate Div., First Dept. 2015), provides an otherwise unremarkable discovery opinion except for the dissent, which argues that New York courts are imposing a higher burden on social media discovery.   This has led to a fair amount …

1st Amendment

Injunction for Cyberstalking in Florida Reversed

During the May 2014 Billboard Music Award show, a hologram of Michael Jackson wowed the crowd as he/it performed the song, “Slave to the Rhythm.”  You can see the performance here. Lawsuits regarding the hologram arose between two companies involving patent and business tort disputes.  According to the allegations, Alkiviades David, …

Ethics

LinkedIn Profiles – What Should New York and Florida Lawyers Do?

According to a recent study, 42% of Florida lawyers used LinkedIn for professional purposes.  An ABA study suggests 90% of firms of all size have a LinkedIn profile. Two helpful but conflicting ethics opinions regarding lawyers’ use of LinkedIn have come from the New York City Bar (“NYC Bar”) and …

Data Breach

Second Cir: Facebook Case Reveals Difference b/t CFAA & SCA Statute of Limitation Periods

The Second Circuit confirmed that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 USC 1030) and the Stored Communications Act (18 USC 2701) calculate the starting point of their two year statute of limitation differently.  If someone’s email and/or social media accounts are hacked, the statutory periods are calculated differently.  This …

E-discovery

Ten Steps to Facebook Discovery

      This article, from the Spring 2015 Trial Advocate Quarterly, discusses four (4) reported trial orders  and (3) appellate decisions on social media discovery from Florida. While the orders and opinions are not exactly harmonized, they can be interpreted in a way that counsel for parties seeking social media …

Defamation

Florida Second DCA: ShesAHomewrecker.com Case

Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal recently ruled in Melissa Leach v. Tara Michelle Kersey that, under case-specific facts, sending messages, Facebook friending, and posting about another person on She’s A HomeWrecker.com were not “cyberstalking” under Florida Statute 784.0485. Under the cyberstalking statute, there must be at least two incidents …

SCOTUS

U.S. v. Elonis — U.S. Supreme Court’s Facebook Case

A former amusement park employee’s Facebook posts may prove wrong most federal courts or will clearly carve out a rare First Amendment exception. The case of U.S. v. Elonis focuses on whether statements, often phrased as rap music, could be a “true threat” which would make it a crime if …

E-discovery

Crowe v. Marquette — New Facebook Discovery Case (and possibly lying about it) from Louisiana

In a federal case which appears to be about an employee who claims to be injured on the job, the defendant sought the plaintiff’s Facebook content based upon a lead that the plaintiff had posted that he had been injured while fishing before going to work.  So the defendant-employer asked …

iOS

How Florida Lawyers Use Technology

In January 2015, the Florida Bar released its “Results of the 2014 Economics and Law Office Management Survey,” which you can find here. The Bar article covers the primary study results however there are far more interesting tech-specific data about lawyers and their use of technology. Some of the interesting, …

Social Media

How Jurors and Lawyers Use Social Media and Technology

  Lawyers are ethically required to stay competent with emerging technology that impacts their practice.  You need confidential communications.  You need to know how to research. This article, How Jurors and Lawyers Use Social Media and Technology, discusses how the average juror is using the internet AND explains what your …

Social Media

Deleting versus Deactiving Facebook

With the revelation that Facebook is tracking users across the web, even if you log off, I have deleted my Facebook account.   Yes, deleted.  Not just deactivated. You can “deactivate” your Facebook account and it disappears from sight but it is still there in the Facebook vault, ready for …

iOS

If This Then That (IFTTT) For Lawyers

An app called “If This, Then That” or IFTTT exists to bring together your smartphones alarms, notices, social media, and other internet tools so that you can, as their tag line says, “take control of the internet.” This article, “If This Then That (IFTTT” For Lawyers” explains how to combine …

Social Media

Florida Judge Disqualified After Facebook-Friending a Litigant

A Florida judge has been directed to recuse herself by an appellate court after the judge sent a Facebook-friend request to a party during divorce proceedings. Specifically, Judge Linda D. Schoonover was presiding over a divorce and, prior to entry of a final judgment, sent a Facebook-friend request to the …

4th Amendment

No Social Media Privacy for Alleged Colorado Theater Shooter

Defendant James Eagan Holmes, the alleged Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooter, sought to suppress records obtained from two “dating” sites, Adultfriendfinder.com and Match.com (to be clear, the former is for “sex and swinger personals”). TMZ.com apparently broke the story that Holmes, using the alias “classicjimbo,” had a picture of himself …

E-discovery

Spying Spouses: Social Media & Divorce / Family Law

  Thanks to the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s Family Law CLE Committee for inviting me to speak at the “Spying Spouses” seminar today. The materials for my section on “Family Law Discovery: Social Media and E-Discovery” is here. We discussed: * mistakes that lawyers make in e-discovery and social …