email read by unauthorized person

[justfishing]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NC

I was laid off from work several months ago, and at that time, I returned my corporate BlackBerry that I used to receive corporate and personal email. The BlackBerry was erased by IT, but email settings for my personal email account were not erased. When the device was given to another employee, the employee notified IT that my personal email was still being received on the device. IT again tried to clear the settings and told the employee to notify IT if the problem persisted. The employee did not notify IT that the problem continued, and the employee continued reading my email for over 30 days. I found out that my personal email was being read when the employee communicated the contents of a mail message to a third party.

The company claimed that checking personal email on a corporate device was against company policy, although it isn't. The policy allowed for limited personal use of IT assets. The company also claimed that there was no interception of unauthorized commuication since I had originally set the device to receive my email.

I think that Electronic Communications Protection Act (ECPA) and other privacy laws have been violated since:
1. The employee continued reading the messages for over 30 days without notifying me or IT of the problem. S/He claimed that the email was an annoying problem, but by failing to notify for over 30 days, I think that s/he can't claim it was annoying or it was accidental.
2. S/He communicated the contents of at least one message to a third party (another employee).

What do you think? Do I have a case?