Law Firms
Law Firm Sued Over Divorce Client’s Use of Spyware
Posted Jul 6, 2009 12:39 PM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A law firm in Chattanooga, Tenn., has been sued for $2 million by a man who says one of its lawyers tried to use improperly intercepted e-mail in a divorce case.
Farrell Hayes says in the suit that the law firm Berke, Berke and Berke represented his wife, Alice Suzanne Hayes, in a divorce action, the Chattanoogan.com reports. The suit claims Alice Hayes installed "eBlaster" software on Farrell Hayes’ laptop computer that intercepted his communications.
The suit says lawyer Marvin Berke used or tried to use some of the e-mail in the divorce case. Berke told the Chattanoogan that the suit will be "vigorously defended."
Hat tip to Legal Blog Watch.
- How B of A’s GC Got Fired: Leave Now, and Leave Your BlackBerry Behind
- Schools Ranked by 'Super Lawyers' Produced
- Law Firm Price Wars Break Out as Some Try ‘Loss Leader’ Bids for Work
- Five Questions for Law Firms Abandoning Lockstep Compensation
- Judge Jails 2 Attorneys for Contempt in 4 Days
- Reed Smith Will Ask Nonequity Partners to Pony Up Possibly 15% of Pay
- Court Deputy Ordered to Apologize or Face Jail After Taking Lawyer's Paperwork
- Skadden Jumps on the Bonus Bandwagon
- ABA Executive Director Resigns
- Nasty Attitude to Co-Worker, Naughty Word in E-Mail Cost 2 Their Jobs
Should Supreme Court Justices Be Able to Review News Accounts Before Publication?
Comments
Michael
Jul 7, 2009 10:01 AM CST
Not sure what their vigorous defense is going to be unless they either didn’t do it or didn’t know about it. Once they were given the emails and realized out a crime was being committed they seemed to not only not stop their client, but try to introduce the contraband into court!
Hopefully they won’t try to argue they had the right to conspire in the commission of a federal felony to steal information, which is what the (admittedly brief) article seems to suggest happened.
Seems like there’s not only a civil case here but—since the interceptions crossed state lines—possibly a criminal case too. It’d be good to see Obama’s Justice Dept. pick this up and send a message that hacking won’t be tolerated.
Flag this comment
Add a Comment
We welcome your comments, but please adhere to our comment policy.
Commenting has expired on this post.