Providing accurate, timely, and insightful legal commentary
Connectiuct Business Litigation Blog
Commentary on lawsuits and legal issues impacting Connecticut businesses. Authored by experienced business litigation attorney, Kane Bennett of Aeton Law Partners, LLP.
Disturbing Rise in Internet Harassment and Cyber Bullying Part Of Growing Trend
The tragic suicide of Rutgers University student, Tyler Clementi, shows the potential devastating impacts arising from misuse of the Internet and social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. This incident also serves as a reminder of the rapid sea change that technology brings and how our laws struggle to keep pace especially when it comes to new forms of media and the Internet. I have seen two trends develop as it relates to lawsuits and social networking litigation. Both of these trends will continue. The first trend concerns the potential problems and risks to business owners over social media. These issue have been well documented for over a year now. Some of these issues include privacy rights, defamation, trade secrets, non-competition agreements, electronic monitoring, evidentiary use, and concerns over social media policies in the workplace. The second trend that has developed is the unfortunate increase and rise in cyber bullying, harassment, and invasion of privacy from users posting content on Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube. The sad fact is that this often involves school age children as victims of cyber attacks or as users who do not fully understand the significance and devastation that might result from posting content online to the entire world. As another glaring example, Anderson Cooper of CNN reported just last night on the disturbing story of Chris Armstrong, an openly gay student at the University of Michigan. The story detailed how a Michigan Assistant Attorney General, Andrew Shrivell, was outright harassing and stalking Mr. Armstrong both in person and on a blog. Mr. Shrivell’s conduct was revolting and disturbing for anyone let alone a law enforcement official. His actions are an example
Can You Record Phone Conversations In Connecticut To Help Your Lawsuit?
You might be surprised how many times I am asked this question. Of course, the circumstances of every case warrant separate consideration, but here are the basic facts concerning recording of phone conversations in Connecticut as it relates to civil litigation and lawsuits: Civil Liability. You are subject to liability in a civil lawsuit if you violate Connecticut General Statutes 52-570d entitled "Action for illegal recording of private telephonic communications." The full text of the statute is here, but the basic summary is that an aggrieved person may bring a civil lawsuit for the recovery of damages and attorney’s fees if someone uses a device to record "an oral private telephonic communication" unless the use of the recording device involves: the consent of all parties (some states only require one party consent), and such consent is obtained prior to the recording the consent documented in writing or part of the recording verbal notification given at the start of the recording an automatic tone warning device producing a signal every 15 seconds There are various exceptions to this rule, including for law enforcement and FCC officials. In addition, one of the more relevant exceptions is for "any person who, [is] the recipient of a telephonic communication which conveys threats of extortion, bodily harm or other unlawful requests or demands." For example,if your Mel Gibson’s girlfriend, and you are in Connecticut, its probably safe to record his phone calls. To recover in Connecticut, however, you have to prove actual damages related to the recording. Many people that want to record phone conversations are
CT Supreme Court Affirms Right To Challenge Foreign Judgment With Special Defense
One of the many issues to consider when filing a lawsuit against a party in another state is how you will go about enforcing the judgment if you win. For example, lets assume you live in Alaska and want to sue someone who lives in Connecticut. You decide you do not want to hire a Connecticut lawyer, but instead decide to sue in Alaska state court. You win a "default" judgment in the Alaska case because the Connecticut resident never appeared in the case or hired a lawyer to defend the case. Typically, in these circumstances, you take the judgment from one state, hire an attorney in the state where the defendant lives, and you "domesticate" the judgment. In this example, you would take the Alaska state court judgment to a court in Connecticut and ask the Connecticut court to enforce it. Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United Stated Constitution, states have a duty to recognize or give "credit" to the "judicial proceedings" of every other state. Sounds simple right? Not always the case. There are various ways to challenge a foreign or out of state judgment. One of the primary methods Connecticut attorneys use to challenge a foreign judgment is to contest the personal jurisdiction of the court that rendered the judgment. This is exactly what happened in Maltas v. Maltas (download here) which was officially released yesterday by the Connecticut Supreme Court. John Maltas, an Alaskan resident, sued his brother Brian Maltas in Alaska state court. He won a default judgment because his brother stayed in Connecticut and ignored the lawsuit. John Maltas then filed a lawsuit in Connecticut seeking to
Only Five Days To Report Data Breach For Insurers And Agents In Connecticut
One of the many questions business owners have to answer upon learning of a data loss or security breach incident is whether to notify governmental authorities and when to do it. The Connecticut Insurance Department has provided a new regulation for insurers and agents in a bulletin on August 18, 2010. The new regulation requires immediate notification to the Department in writing, but no later than 5 days, upon a security incident involving personal identifiers. The Insurance Department defined a security incident requiring notification as follows: The Department considers an information security incident to be any unauthorized acquisition or transfer of, or access to, personal health, financial, or personal information, whether or not encrypted, of a Connecticut insured, member, subscriber, policyholder or provider, in whatever form the information is collected, used or stored, which is obtained or maintained by a licensee or registrant of the Insurance Department, the loss of which could compromise or put at risk the personal, financial, or physical well being of the affected insureds, members, subscribers, policyholders or providers. This new regulation may have been issued in response to some concerns Attorney General Blumenthal expressed over the Heatlh Net data loss. In particular, Blumenthal was critical of the late (6 months) and inaccurate notice concerning the data loss. Five days is a very short time frame, let alone responding immediately. It would be very difficult for companies falling under this regulation to meet this notice requirement effectively without already having a privacy plan in place to respond to such an event. I have
Does A Limited Liability Company Protect Its Members From Personal Tort Liability?
Not always. An individual member of an LLC or an officer of a corporation may be individually liable for their own torts. This rule is well settled and the Connecticut Supreme Court reaffirmed it in Strum v. Harb Development, which will be officially released on August 31, 2010. Business owners often chose to a form a business entity to operate under, such as a limited liability company (LLC), limited liability partnership, or professional corporation. In basic terms, the entity operates as an individual for legal purposes. There are many reasons to form a business entity. One of the more common reasons is to limit your personal liability and protect your assets. The idea is, if you make a mistake in business, the entity is responsible, not you personally. Many times, a properly formed and maintained business entity, like an LLC or corporation, can provide a shield or "veil" of protection for an individual member or officer. However, the protection is not absolute, and there are many instances where you can be personally liable in business despite the formation and operation of a business entity. Two of the most common methods of establishing personal liability are "piercing the corporate veil" and individual responsibility for torts, such as breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, and misrepresentation. In the Strum case, the Connecticut Supreme Court addressed the later situation involving personal liability for torts (I will do a post on veil piercing soon). The Strum case involved a homeowner alleging poor workmanship and breach of a construction contract for new home construction. The plaintiff homeowners in the case
Cyber Crime On The Rise And Costly – What Can You Do About It
The Ponemon Institute recently published the First Annual Cost of Cyber Crime Study. Download here. The study was conducted by Ponemon, an independent research group with a focus on privacy and data protection, and ArcSight, a security and compliance management provider. The study involved a benchmark cost analysis of 45 different companies ranging from 500 employees to over 100,000. Here are the significant points from the executive summary: The median cost of cyber crimes for the 45 organizations was $3.8 million per year (ranging from $1 million to $52 million) Cyber attacks are the most common occurence The most costly attacks (amounting to 90% of the attacks) are web attacks, malicious code, and malicious insiders The companies in the study were experiencing 50 successful attacks per week Average number of days to address a cyber attack was 14 days, with insider attacks taking more than a month Costs for company compliance depended greatly on the level of security programs at each company The study defined cyber attack as any criminal activity conducted via the Internet, including theft of intellectual property, confiscating online information and accounts, distributing viruses, and disclosure of confidential information. The study referred to some well publicized cases of cyber attack, such as TJX companies, which I posted about on this blog previously. What should you do if you or your Connecticut business has been a victim of cyber attack? Act quickly. Responding quickly to a cyber attack is essential. Hopefully, your business has developed a data loss and privacy plan that will address the steps your business should take
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Connecticut Business Litigation is the most well-read litigation blog in the state of Connecticut. Founded by Attorney Kane Bennett in 2009, a pioneer in Attorney Marketing in the state of connecticut