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Archive for the ‘Social Media Law’ Category

Defendants Want Social Media, Plaintiffs Want E-Discovery

Monday, May 6th, 2013

In civil lawsuits, particularly those involving individuals as plaintiffs and businesses as defendants, lawyers on either side are turning to new discovery tools that they can use against their opponent without much fear of retribution. Specifically, a defendant seeks a plaintiff’s social media. Embarrassing and risky for the plaintiff, perhaps, but likely the defendant-corporation has no social media to be concerned about.

On the other hand, the plaintiff can serve e-discovery on the defendant: in that situation, the individual plaintiff likely has little to none but the defendant corporation is now scrambling with retention policies, multiple devices, and gobs of data.

Are social media and e-discovery treated the same by the courts?

This article, Defendants Want Social Media, Plaintiffs Want E-Discovery, from the April 2013 Palm Beach Bar Bulletin discusses these (developing) legal trends.

Posted in E-discovery, Social Media Law | 40 Comments »

Palm Beach Judge Sasser Rules on Social Media Discovery

Monday, February 25th, 2013

In a slip-and-fall personal injury action, Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Meenu Sasser entered a January 29, 2013 Order Sustaining Plaintiff’s Objections to Social Networking Discovery.

Judge Sasser’s 11-page opinion enters the fray among other trial and intermediate appellate court opinions on the discoverability of social media information.

Judge Sasser references the 2012 article, Discovery of Facebook Content in Florida Cases, on page 1 (obliquely) and page 5 (directly).

She also discusses the 2011 order in Beswick v. NW. Med. Ctr, 2011 WL 7005038, where the trial court ordered social media production.

Posted in Social Media Law | 138 Comments »

Social Media Policy: You’re Probably Doing It Wrong

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

Countless lawyers and HR professionals bravely set out to craft social media policies without having critical tools: a true working knowledge of social media, a clear direction, common sense, and an up-to-date knowledge of what is allowed by law.

Don’t trust the lawyer-with-a-facebook-account nor should you task the youngest associate to cut and paste from policies floating on the internet.

Test your company’s or firm’s social media policy against these nine examples to see if it passes muster.

If your business chooses to have a social media policy, hire someone who knows how to write (and update) it.

Special thanks to the Palm Beach Bar for publishing this in the February 2013 Bar Bulletin. Article is here.

Posted in Employment, Social Media Law | 257 Comments »

Internet Safety for Parents & Students 2013

Monday, January 14th, 2013

Last year we discussed, “there is no delete.” This year we add to that: social media is not free; the price of admission is your personal information.

A special thanks to Rosarian Academy for allowing me to speak to parents and students in separate sessions so parents can learn tips about social media and how to protect their own privacy as well as start the discussion with their children.

Likewise, students learned about examples where emails, photos, and Facebook posts which people thought were private… ended up circulated around the globe. And how that can affect their high school, college, and job applications. We also discussed illegal downloading and other computer crimes.

The Powerpoint for the parents is here. The student version is here.

Posted in Privacy, Social Media Law | 214 Comments »

Palm Beach County Bar: How to Effectively Use Technology in Your Practice

Thursday, November 8th, 2012

Thanks to the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s Solo & Small Firm Practitioners Committee for the invitation to speak on “How to Effectively Use Technology in Your Practice.”

We focused on iPhone/iPad apps for your practice, mediation, and trial as well as general social media discovery and marketing tips.

Today’s course was taught by Spencer Kuvin of Cohen & Kuvin and Christopher Hopkins of Akerman Senterfitt.

Special thanks to the Committee chair, Shannon Sagan.

This course included:

*Spencer’s top 15 apps

*Christopher’s top 15 apps

*Tech in Mediation & Trial

*Social Media Marketing

*Posting Depos on YouTube?

*Social Media Discovery

*Sign PDFs on iPad = mobile office

If you missed it, or if you want to review, the Powerpoint is here.

Posted in Facebook, iPhone iPad, Social Media Law | 363 Comments »

iPhone & iPad Apps For Lawyers CLE

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012

The Palm Beach County Bar Association presents a 2-hr lunch seminar, “iPhone & iPad Apps for Lawyers,” on Friday, June 15, 2012.

Come learn tips about your device that you likely did not know.

Better still, learn of over 60 unusual-but-not-obscure apps for lawyers. We do not cover obvious apps like LinkedIn and Expedia. Learn about apps you may not know.

Flyer is here.

Posted in iPhone iPad, Social Media Law | 172 Comments »

Florida Court Orders Plaintiff to Produce Facebook Content

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Consistent with most jurisdictions nationwide, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida circuit court judge ordered plaintiffs in a medical malpractice case to produce Facebook data in discovery. Plaintiffs had objected to the production on the grounds that the request was overbroad, burdensome, not within the scope of discovery, and violated privacy rights. The order recites two of the social media interrogatories at issue which may be of use to practitioners.

Judge Mily Rodriguez Powell wrote that the information shared by the Plaintiffs on social media websites was “clearly relevant to the subject matter of the current litigation” and narrow in scope (given the short history of social media, narrowly tailoring such requests is often not difficult). The court further held there was no expectation of privacy, citing to New York and California cases.

The Bent v. Northwest Medical Center et al. order is here.

For similar recent opinions out of Pennsylvania and New York, see “No Such Thing As Privacy in the Social Media World.”

Posted in Facebook, Privacy, Social Media Law | 327 Comments »