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The Forgotten e-Mail Account
As many matrimonial law practitioners know, New York's laws concerning eavesdropping and the admissibility of evidence obtained while doing so often keep very relevant information out of the courtroom. Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) ' 4506 provides that evidence obtained through the commission of criminal eavesdropping, as defined by Penal Law ' 250.05, is inadmissible in both civil and criminal cases. Penal Law ' 250.00 holds that a person is guilty of eavesdropping when he or she unlawfully engages in wiretapping or the mechanical overhearing of a conversation. The exception is when the person authorizing the use by the court of the recorded discussion was one of the participants in the conversation. Berk v. Berk, 70 AD 2d 943 (2d Dept 1979) (tapes of conversations may be accepted as
evidence if proof of consent of at least one party to the conversations is put into evidence).
It might seem intuitive then that a similar rule would apply to records of e-mail correspondence: If one party to the correspondence agreed to have it submitted to the court, it would be admissible, but the correspondence could not be used as evidence if neither of the people involved consented. However, according to one judge in Kings County, such permission is not needed, because e-mailed discussions, which can be saved for years, are not necessarily in transit when discovered. Thus, according to a strict interpretation of New York law, they also do not necessarily enjoy the same privacy protections that telephonic or otherwise spoken conversations do.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.
Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits
In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.