In Kosmicki Inv. Servs. LLC v. DuranNo. 1:21-cv-03488-DDD-SBPYY (D. Colo. Aug. 1, 2023), Kosmicki Funding Companies LLC (KIS) introduced a federal court docket motion in opposition to a terminated worker (Joseph Duran) below the Laptop Fraud and Abuse Act. As an worker, Duran had “entry to KIS’s extremely confidential buyer monetary data, know-how, mental property [and] private and monetary data of shoppers” that was “saved on cloud databases.” In a earlier state court docket motion between the events, the court docket ordered manufacturing of a ‘Seagate Drive’ in Duran’s possession as a result of the particular grasp decided the drive contained KIS’s property.
KIS then sought return of its property that was allegedly on Duran’s private laptop computer, which he admittedly used to entry the Seagate Drive on “a number of events.” Duran opposed manufacturing of his laptop computer, arguing KIS “recognized no paperwork positioned on the Seagate Drive” that he “improperly retained.” The court docket concluded that paperwork on Duran’s private laptop computer may very well be “each related and proportional to the wants of the case.”
The court docket reasoned: “Nothing within the document means that KIS would have been obliged, at this stage of the case, to particularly determine for Mr. Duran all paperwork that he could have improperly taken from KIS.” The court docket went on to notice that “relevance is just not so narrowly construed as to restrict a narrative to its remaining chapter, and neither social gathering is entitled to make it not possible for all significant components of the story to be instructed.” In sum, the court docket declined to “conflate the invention query at challenge right here with a predetermination of the deserves of the underlying claims within the motion.”
Delicate to any inconvenience to Duran from quickly surrendering his private laptop computer and private data, the court docket ordered the events to barter a “joint proposed ESI protocol.” The court docket additionally ordered Duran to protect all paperwork on his laptop computer till after the forensic imaging.
A key takeaway right here is that firms ought to promptly disable departing worker entry to confidential and proprietary firm data. On this case, KIS alleged Duran used the Seagate machine to obtain and retain digital information from KIS’s laptop three days after his termination. If KIS had taken steps to make sure Duran not had entry to the Seagate machine upon his termination, it seemingly would have prevented the issue that led to this litigation, and its related prices.
