Robinson v. New Jersey, 2013 WL 3894129 (D. NJ July 26, 2013)

Robinson v. New Jersey, 2013 WL 3894129 (D. NJ July 26, 2013) (3rd Cir.)

In this order the court denies pro se Plaintiff’s motion for leave to amend the Complaint to add a CFAA claim. The gist of the case is that the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage, Family Division entered a Final Restraining Order against Plaintiff andPlaintiff then sued that court for every reason he could find. After several unsuccessful claims, he finally sought to add the CFAA claim based on the allegations that the state employees who worked on his case used their lawful computer access for an unlawful purpose, that is, to enter the restraining order against him.The court treated this as an employee misuse case and followed the Strict Access Theory of the Ninth and Fourth Circuits: “Although the Third Circuit has not addressed this issue, district courts in this circuit ‘have held, in the employer-employee context, that an employee who may access a computer by the terms of his employment is “authorized” to use the computer for purposes of [the CFAA] even if his purpose in doing so is to misuse or misappropriate the employer’s information.'” Because Plaintiff’s allegations would be insufficient to state a claim under this standard, the proposed amendment would be futile and was denied.