At the risk of appearing obsessed, I write a second time about the separation of Jeff and Makenzie Bezos. This time my subject is again borrowed from the Wall Street Journal, but it’s not about the money. Rather, the Journal produced a prominent and adulatory article about the divorce announcement by the couple (actually Jeff)
ARE THERE PRIVACY RIGHTS IN FACEBOOK POSTINGS?
New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals ruled on February 13, 2018 that a Facebook account holder’s designation of a posting as “private” did not preclude a litigant from obtaining copies of those postings where they may be relevant to the litigation.
The ruling comes from a personal injury case where the plaintiff claimed
Your Divorce Is Not a Community Event
We live in an age of instant information where there is constant temptation to share what one is doing and thinking. We are used to sharing our experiences and thoughts freely. The temptation becomes even greater when we are in times of stress. And, while this is a universal tendency that has always been prevalent,
Facebook Antagonist Has Conviction Reinstated
We’ve reported on the United States v. Elonis in the past. This case involved a Northampton County man who made a series of threats on his Facebook page directed at his estranged wife, his employer, and an FBI agent who came to investigate a threat he made to attack an elementary school. Elonis, in
Post on Social Media, Go to Jail – How a Facebook Post Violated a Court Order
A recent criminal case addressed, in part, an issue we saw in the case of Elonis v. United States. The Elonis case went to the U.S. Supreme Court which ultimately reversed the criminal conviction of a man based on statutory construction grounds that his Facebook postings did not offer the requisite mental intent to
Can Social Media Speech Violate Protection from Abuse Orders?
I recently wrote a column for The Legal Intelligencier about the Supreme Court’s decision in the Elonis v. United States to overturn Elonis’ criminal conviction and forty-four month prison term for statements he made through social media about his estranged wife, shooting up a kindergarten class, and slicing the throat of an FBI agent who
FACEBOOK IS A VIRTUAL ADDRESS…UNLESS IT’S NOT
To the best of my knowledge, using Facebook as a way to serve legal papers or proving notice of a lawsuit or other legal issue has not been addressed by Pennsylvania courts, but that doesn’t mean it won’t in the future. Recently, two different states took two different approaches to the use of Facebook as
SOCIAL MEDIA PRENUPS TRY TO ENSURE PRIVATE MOMENTS STAY PRIVATE
A recent story through ABC’s Good Morning America website highlighted the evolution of the prenuptial agreement in the social media age. Divorce lawyers are reporting an increasing amount of requests for language in prenuptial agreements – if not stand-alone agreements – addressing social media usage.
It
THE RIGHT TO TWEET IN A CUSTODY CASE
The Arizona Court of Appeals issued an opinion in the custody case of Steve Nash, the point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. The opinion upheld the trial court’s decision, which prohibited either party from disparaging the other on social media. The issue arose initially when Nash’s ex-wife tweeted some disparaging comments about Nash. Nash’s