IT Consulting and Data Loss Liability

[flip1950]

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

I am a freelance IT consultant doing business under my name - no Corp or LLC. I had a Medical Office client who has an Electronic Medical Record system. I had setup backups on the machine however the backups were stopped due to issues it created with their software. The client was aware that the backups were stopped. The client contacted me several times over the past 6-8 months to correct the probem with the backups but I never did. There was a recent hardware failure causing permanent data loss of SOME patients. Am I liable for any damages? I did not have a service contract with the office and worked on time and materials.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

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

I am a freelance IT consultant doing business under my name - no Corp or LLC. I had a Medical Office client who has an Electronic Medical Record system. I had setup backups on the machine however the backups were stopped due to issues it created with their software. The client was aware that the backups were stopped. The client contacted me several times over the past 6-8 months to correct the probem with the backups but I never did. There was a recent hardware failure causing permanent data loss of SOME patients. Am I liable for any damages? I did not have a service contract with the office and worked on time and materials.

I think they would have a pretty difficult time showing liability. You were not responsible for the hardware failure. The customer knew the backups were not working, and did nothing to correct the problem.

For a successful negligence suit, the plaintiff must prove duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages.

You had no duty to fix the backups.
Since you had no duty, you had nothing to breach.
The lack of backups did not cause the failure.
They had damages.

2 out of 4 doesn't cut it. In fact, 4 out of 4 is the only thing that does.

Unfortunately, there is nothing preventing them from filing a lawsuit against you anyway.

 

[HappyWanderer]

What were you hired to do? Why did the client keep contacting you over the months? Did they want to rehire you or did they want you to fix what they thought was your error? What did you promise them when you weren't fixing the problem?