Phillips v. Executor of Estate of Arnold, 2013 WL 4458790 (WD Wa. Aug. 16, 2013)

Phillips v. Executor of Estate of Arnold, 2013 WL 4458790 (WD Wa. Aug. 16, 2013)  (9th Cir)

Plaintiff was sentenced to prison for several years and upon his release discovered what he believed Defendants’ unauthorized access to his computers prior to his being incarcerated. On March 12, 2013, Plaintiff sued for violations of the Computer Fraudand Abuse Act for both “loss” and “damage” to the computers. The face of the Complaint revealed that the alleged “damage” was discovered before March 30, 2010, and though the Plaintiff alleged in the Complaint that he did not learn about the Defendant’s’ accessing his computer until January 2013, such allegation was contradicted by other allegations and sworn testimony. Defendants moved to dismiss pursuant to the two-year statute of limitations for CFAA claims.In granting the Motion to Dismiss, the court looked at the Complaint, public records for other related cases, Plaintiff’s admissions and sworn testimony and other related cases and determined that he knew that Defendants breached his computer and caused damage at least before March 30, 2010 and the CFAA claims were, therefore, irreparably time-barred. The court rejected Plaintiff’s request for equitable tolling because there was no showing of that Plaintiff had “neither actual or constructive knowledge of the facts giving rise to its claim”, that is, that he was “ignorant of the existence of his cause of action.”