lawyer using ilegally accessed email

[bham]

I'm in Alabama working out of the house and my company is in South Carolina. I have a work computer and a work email address that is also my personal email address. I sent an email to a specific person. That email was sent to a an opposing parties lawyer who in turn copied and pasted the email and sent it to my lawyer. My lawyer sent it to me. I never sent this email to the opposing party so my email was accessed without my knowledge. The opposing lawyer states that I sent this email to the opposing party, which I did not. The copied and pasted email clearly shows it was not sent to the opposing party. The email is not work related. The email was a private communication between myself and a therapist for my daughter. Back in 2006 the opposing party accessed my email illegally and bragged about it. In August 2009 I changed all my passwords with the help of my company IS manager so the opposing party did not have access. I do not know how long this has been going on but the opposing party has had me in and out of litigation for years. Between settlements and lawyer fees I'm in the hole $100k. All my persoanl banking, taxes,etc are in this email account. So my questions are 1) Opposing party is using an email obtained illegally. Whether the lawyer knows it or not there is no record of the email being obtained legally. 2) The act by the opposing party to illegally gain access to my company email account falls under what law? 3) What can I do?

 

[Proserpina]

I'm in Alabama working out of the house and my company is in South Carolina. I have a work computer and a work email address that is also my personal email address. I sent an email to a specific person. That email was sent to a an opposing parties lawyer who in turn copied and pasted the email and sent it to my lawyer. My lawyer sent it to me. I never sent this email to the opposing party so my email was accessed without my knowledge. The opposing lawyer states that I sent this email to the opposing party, which I did not. The copied and pasted email clearly shows it was not sent to the opposing party. The email is not work related. The email was a private communication between myself and a therapist for my daughter. Back in 2006 the opposing party accessed my email illegally and bragged about it. In August 2009 I changed all my passwords with the help of my company IS manager so the opposing party did not have access. I do not know how long this has been going on but the opposing party has had me in and out of litigation for years. Between settlements and lawyer fees I'm in the hole $100k. All my persoanl banking, taxes,etc are in this email account. So my questions are 1) Opposing party is using an email obtained illegally. Whether the lawyer knows it or not there is no record of the email being obtained legally. 2) The act by the opposing party to illegally gain access to my company email account falls under what law? 3) What can I do?

1. Prove it.

2. Why do you think it was illegally obtained?

3. What do you hope to gain from this?

 

[bham]

Proving is easy, ISP address records and simple to/from on the email. It's obtained illegally because I didn't send it to her, or giver her password and/or access to email. I hope to gain creditability and take hers for use in the litigation the opposing party brought on me.

1. Prove it.

2. Why do you think it was illegally obtained?

3. What do you hope to gain from this?[/QUOTE]

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Have your lawyer make a motion to have it thrown out. Unless your company is seeking more, you have nothing.

 

[bham]

Please explain. The email isn't relative to the litigation against me. What's relative is the act of illegally accessing my email. What's meaningful is the act of her lawyer stating I sent it to the opposing party and didn't - I would think she would need to produce evidence of such a statement. Can you suggest another forum to post in? Thanks for the advice though, don't get me wrong!

Have your lawyer make a motion to have it thrown out. Unless your company is seeking more, you have nothing.[/QUOTE]

 

[quincy]

... I sent an email to a specific person. That email was sent to a an opposing parties lawyer who in turn copied and pasted the email and sent it to my lawyer. My lawyer sent it to me. I never sent this email to the opposing party so my email was accessed without my knowledge. ... The act by the opposing party to illegally gain access to my company email account falls under what law? 3) What can I do?

From what you said, and from what I have quoted above of your post, there has been no illegal access of your email account. You sent an email. Once you sent the email, it was out of your control and, while it can be said that you have a copyright in the email and there are potential privacy rights in an email, there is nothing that in reality prevents an email from being printed off or forwarded to others.

In other words, if you have something private or personal to communicate, it is smart to communicate it in person and not via email.

 

[Proserpina]

I'm in Alabama working out of the house and my company is in South Carolina. I have a work computer and a work email address that is also my personal email address. I sent an email to a specific person.

Okay, so you sent an email to Fred.

That email was sent to a an opposing parties lawyer who in turn copied and pasted the email and sent it to my lawyer. My lawyer sent it to me. I never sent this email to the opposing party so my email was accessed without my knowledge.

Fred evidently forwarded the email to Bob Lawyer, yes? And then Bob Lawyer sent it to Bham's Lawyer.

Right so far?

The opposing lawyer states that I sent this email to the opposing party, which I did not. The copied and pasted email clearly shows it was not sent to the opposing party. The email is not work related. The email was a private communication between myself and a therapist for my daughter. Back in 2006 the opposing party accessed my email illegally and bragged about it. In August 2009 I changed all my passwords with the help of my company IS manager so the opposing party did not have access. I do not know how long this has been going on but the opposing party has had me in and out of litigation for years. Between settlements and lawyer fees I'm in the hole $100k. All my persoanl banking, taxes,etc are in this email account. So my questions are 1) Opposing party is using an email obtained illegally. Whether the lawyer knows it or not there is no record of the email being obtained legally. 2) The act by the opposing party to illegally gain access to my company email account falls under what law? 3) What can I do?

Now. Why did Fred forward the email to Bob Lawyer? Which part of the tale do you think is illegal?

Let's start there.

 

[Proserpina]

From what you said, and from what I have quoted above of your post, there has been no illegal access of your email account. You sent an email. Once you sent the email, it was out of your control and, while it can be said that you have a copyright in the email and there are potential privacy rights in an email, there is nothing that in reality prevents an email from being printed off or forwarded to others.

In other words, if you have something private or personal to communicate, it is smart to communicate it in person and not via email.

Thank you q - I was so hoping you'd stop by. I wasn't 100% sure about the privacy issue

 

[LdiJ]

From what you said, and from what I have quoted above of your post, there has been no illegal access of your email account. You sent an email. Once you sent the email, it was out of your control and, while it can be said that you have a copyright in the email and there are potential privacy rights in an email, there is nothing that in reality prevents an email from being printed off or forwarded to others.

In other words, if you have something private or personal to communicate, it is smart to communicate it in person and not via email.

I think that we are possibly misinterpreting what OP is saying.

I believe that OP is saying (making up names here) that she sent an email to Dr. Smith regarding her child's therapy, and that Jane Doe somehow got her hands on that email and sent it to Jane Doe's/the opposing party's attorney. I believe that OP is saying that her email account was hacked to obtain that email.

 

[Proserpina]

Please explain. The email isn't relative to the litigation against me. What's relative is the act of illegally accessing my email. What's meaningful is the act of her lawyer stating I sent it to the opposing party and didn't - I would think she would need to produce evidence of such a statement. Can you suggest another forum to post in? Thanks for the advice though, don't get me wrong!

Have your lawyer make a motion to have it thrown out. Unless your company is seeking more, you have nothing.

[/QUOTE]


Real world example:

My ex's wife insisted on emailing buckets of garbage about me, to one of my family members. My family member forwarded all of these to me. I then forwarded all of these to my attorney. My attorney then used them against my ex (and I mean big time - his wife completely destroyed any defense he may have had).

Nothing illegal about that.

 

[Proserpina]

I think that we are possibly misinterpreting what OP is saying.

I believe that OP is saying (making up names here) that she sent an email to Dr. Smith regarding her child's therapy, and that Jane Doe somehow got her hands on that email and sent it to Jane Doe's/the opposing party's attorney. I believe that OP is saying that her email account was hacked to obtain that email.

Possibly. But even IF that was the case, OP is an insurmountable burden of proving X being guilty of wrongdoing...and I'm not even talking about the "spoofing IP/header" information.

 

[Ohiogal]

Proving is easy, ISP address records and simple to/from on the email. It's obtained illegally because I didn't send it to her, or giver her password and/or access to email. I hope to gain creditability and take hers for use in the litigation the opposing party brought on me.

If you sent it to the therapist, the therapist may have sent it to her. The therapist had a right to do so. Therefore not obtained ILLEGALLY.

 

[Proserpina]

If you sent it to the therapist, the therapist may have sent it to her. The therapist had a right to do so. Therefore not obtained ILLEGALLY.

Yeap. There's only one way I could even possibly disagree and that would be if the therapist sent protected information about OP, without OP's permission.

HIPAA is a funny little monkey and we haven't truly straightened it out since it came into being (as far as therapy goes).

 

[tranquility]

This will all be cleared up when foundation is laid for introduction of the evidence. Either the OP will be asked about it and he supplies his answer or the other side will try to introduce it as evidence and OP's attorney objects for lack of foundation. If it was illegally obtained, it will lack foundation and won't get in. If it was sourced legally, it will get in.

 

[Ohiogal]

Yeap. There's only one way I could even possibly disagree and that would be if the therapist sent protected information about OP, without OP's permission.

HIPAA is a funny little monkey and we haven't truly straightened it out since it came into being (as far as therapy goes).

If the therapist were the child's therapist, then the other party has the right to the same access as OP for anything the therapist has in her/his records regarding a MUTUAL child.
As OP says this:

The email was a private communication between myself and a therapist for my daughter.

The therapist did nothing illegal. Unless the other side is NOT the other parent/custodian of OP's daughter. The therapist for daughter had the DAUGHTER as the patient and NOT the parent.