Two federal district courts in Texas have faced this issue and both refused to find that plaintiffs, to assert a civil Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim, must meet the $5,000 loss threshold separately as to each defendant. Regular readers of this blog know I often write about the $5,000 jurisdictional loss requirement for asserting a civil claim…
Tag: loss
Can you get your attorneys’ fees under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act?
Kinda. There, how’s that for typical lawyer “advice”? Ok, I’m sorry, I don’t make the law, I’m just here to advise you on how it works. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act does not permit the recovery of costs and attorneys’ fees even if you win your case. If you are the plaintiff, however, it does…
comScore Lawsuit and that Pesky Loss Requirement of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
A jurisdictional threshold to bringing a civil Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim is that the plaintiffs satisfy the $5,000 loss requirement–generally only costs constitute a loss–not economic damages or violated privacy rights. If you were at the Continuing Legal Education seminar I presented this past Monday, you’ve already heard this, right? You also heard…
3 Recent Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Cases Worth Noting
Three recent Computer Fraud and Abuse Act cases decided over the last couple of months are worth looking at because they show the following points, respectively: (1) the CFAA in its current form does not give consumers an adequate remedy for privacy related data breach issues; (2) the CFAA’s focus on “access” is more akin…
Update: Recent Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Cases
By necessity, for this update I am trying to change my format for blogging updates for recent cases involving the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) as this lawyer has been busy lately. Instead of providing a relatively thorough analysis of each individual case, I must cover several in one update and just briefly touch…
Ninth Circuit: Speculative “Loss” Insufficient for Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
A plaintiff’s claim that he would need to retain a forensic computer expert to examine a third party’s computer to detect and delete the data taken from his thumb drive was considered to be too speculative to qualify as a “loss” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). This was the Ninth Circuit Court…
Barter Services and Attorney Fees May Qualify As “Loss” Under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Cash payment not required! Bartered services, lost employee time, perhaps even fees for attorney investigating / overseeing investigation–all can satisfy the $5,000 mandatory “loss” required to bring a civil action under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This we can take from a recent case, Animators at Law, Inc. v. Capital Legal Solutions, LLC, Case…
Facebooking at Work Does Not Violate Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
One court recently found that an employee who wasted work time by using the Internet excessively, including playing on Facebook, did not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by her less than industrious ways. The case is Lee v. PMSI, Inc., 2011 WL 1742028 (M.D. Fla. May 6, 2011) and the facts are pretty…
Apple iTracking Case: will Apple be WINNING on Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim?
From what I’ve seen thus far, it should. But first let’s start with a little background … Apple Was iTracking and Got Sued! As anyone who is not living under a rock knows by now, Apple has been sued over the allegations that it has surreptitiously tracked and recorded the details of all iPhone and…
New “Employment” Computer Fraud and Abuse Act case … but with a twist!
It’s always the same: Employee decides to go work for a competitor. Employee takes confidential information. Employee uses it in new job with competitor. Employer sues. We see it all the time and, in fact, it is probably the most common scenario of cases asserting claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), 18…
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