Claiming that he was injured when a metal serving cart struck his knee during a flight from El Salvador to New York in 2019, Robert Mata recently sued Avianca Airlines. Avianca filed a motion to dismiss in New York federal court arguing the lawsuit was too late; the statute of limitations had expired. Vehemently objecting, Mata’s lawyers filed a 10-page reply brief citing more than half a dozen apparently-relevant court decisions. Among them was Varghese v. China Southern Airlines which purported to offer a learned discussion of federal law and “the tolling effect of the automatic stay on a statute of limitations.” What if none of Mata’s reply brief was true?Continue Reading Legal Research Gone Wrong: A Cautionary Tale About Relying on ChatGPT
Social Media & The Internet
Falling Off the Fence: Can You Fire Those with Different Viewpoints?
Ernest “Big Daddy” Bux’s daughter Kathy “Kitten” was working for Approval Literary Agency in Blessing, Texas – that is until last month. Kitten, an associate literary agent with Approval Literary was sacked after her boss learned that she owned accounts on the politically charged social media sites Lobby and Blabber. The agency’s owner I.B. Cheef publicly announced on Twitter that the firm had dropped Kitten after making the “distressing” discovery. Kitten tweeted that she was fired because of her political views. Does Kitten have a case for wrongful termination?
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Can an Email Exchange Modify a Lease?
Before the pandemic, Ernest Bux’s niece Chit Bux signed a lease with Iona Mall in an upscale strip shopping center and hired a contractor to build out her dream business – a beauty salon “Cuts & Fluffs.” When Dallas County ordered businesses to shutter last spring, Chit’s “essential business” construction on her salon continued toward meeting the originally scheduled July 1st opening date – perhaps the worst time to open a high-touch, close-quarters beauty salon. Having dealt with other unsuccessful startups in that same space, Iona needed Cuts & Fluffs to succeed; Chit needed a different opening date – much later when people were less fearful of crowds. Chit called Iona, her contractor and her banker who was shepherding her SBA loan. Can Chit work something out with Iona without completely modifying her lease?
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Can an Email Exchange Bind a Real Estate Sale?
Sometime ago Ernest “Big Daddy” Bux conveyed a pipeline easement to Nodding Donkey Pipelines for the construction, operation and maintenance of a 24-inch pipeline across his Big Bux Ranch. In an email sent before Christmas, Lannie Landman with Nodding Donkey requested an easement for a second pipeline on the North side of the existing line.
An Employer’s Spooky Interpretation of its Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy
Mark Eting is one of Duncey’s Caps top outside sales agents. Because the company is based in Texas, but Mark lives in Cleveland and sells for the company in the northeast, Mark purchased a personal computer and a laptop to use for work purposes, but did not get reimbursed by the company. He did, however, provide the computer to Duncey’s IT department to install the company’s sales tracking program. Unbeknownst to Mark, the IT department also installed software that allowed the company to determine when Mark accessed the sales tracking program and what information he accessed. Duncey’s employee handbook – which Mark acknowledged – stated the company could monitor his use and access of company data on personal devices. For the laptop, Mark purchased software called “LogMeIn” which allowed him to remotely access the home personal computer while he was on the road. Thus, Mark could use his laptop while traveling, access the home computer, and enter the sales data. At a team sales retreat, Mark casually mentioned to his boss, Tom Prior, how he logged his sales data on the road by using LogMeIn.
When Mark quit, Duncey’s IT department investigated his use of the sales program, and found he had been logged in more than usual. Suspicious of this activity, Tom went into LogMeIn and successfully guessed his username and password. While perusing Mark’s personal computer, Tom found Mark had set up a Google Mail account and was emailing Duncey’s customer information to one of its competitors. Duncey filed suit against Mark for various claims. When Mark read the lawsuit’s allegations, he realized the only way Duncey’s learned that information would have been by accessing his personal computer or laptop. Mark fired off a counterclaim for computer hacking. Does Mark’s claim stand a chance?
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Who Loses When Hacked Emails Send Wire Transfers to the Wrong Account?
Excited about closing on his new house, Furst Thyme Byer received emailed wire transfer instructions for his full $250,000 payment from his broker Chad at Chase N Rainbows Realtors. Complying with Chad’s instructions in the letter, Furst emailed Schneckner at Schneck’s Loans who wired the closing funds, as instructed, to what they both thought was In-O-Cent Title Company’s account. The next day, Ida at In-O-Cent Title called Furst looking for the money. Checking with Schneck’s Loans, Furst confirmed the funds were wired to the In-O-Cent Title account as directed. But In-O-Cent Title never received the money. The wiring instructions were bogus. They came from a similar email address, but it was not Chase N Rainbows’ – nor was it In-O-Cent Title’s bank account. Is anyone besides Furst responsible for the missing funds? If so, who? The title company? The mortgage broker? The real estate broker?
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Privacy Alert – Alexa (and Friends) is Listening!
Having just fired up her Amazing Alexis and connected it with her other “smart” devices handling her heat, lights and security, Honor was sharing with her husband some troubling, sensitive health information about her trip that day to the doctor’s office. Honor’s tale was interrupted by a call from her brother who demanded “unplug your Alexis devices right now, You’re being hacked!” Sadly, Honor’s recorded tale also made its way to the editor of the neighborhood news-blog Gladys Gravits, who shared it in the community email, along with her effusive professions of sympathy. Does Honor have any recourse?
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Online Images – Free to Use?
Having won her primary, Starr Struuck is ready to update her campaign website and Instagram feed to jazz up her image and promote the reasons why she should win the general election. Having been chastised by Captain Kurff of Star Warp’d who tweeted Struuck to take her personalized and autographed photograph of the two of them at the Comic-Con convention off her newsletter and website, she remains determined to stick with her Star Warp’d theme. A Getty image photograph of the Starship Enterprise circling an unknown planet is now pasted across her social media. This time Getty images complains. Again, Struuck insists that she was merely publicly confessing her affection for geeky space adventure shows. Is Getty in the right to complain and demand to be paid?
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Great Pic! But Can You Use It?
Running for office, Starr Struuck sent out a campaign newsletter extolling her qualifications and a list of reasons why she should be elected rather than her incumbent opponent. Prominently displayed in her newsletter and website was a personalized and autographed Comic-Con convention photograph of Starr Struuck perched beside wildly popular and well-known Captain Kurff of Star Warp’d. When advised of her campaign literature, Captain Kurff tweeted Struuck demanding that she destroy all copies of the campaign newsletter and remove his likeness from any of her campaign materials as he was not endorsing her. Protesting that she was merely publicly confessing her affection for the Captain and geeky shows generally, Starr resisted. Is Captain Kurff right?
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Oh, My Website Has to be ADA Compliant. Wait, What?!?!?
Dr. Nole Specs created a website for his successful optometry practice. Over the holidays, Dr. Specs received a threatening letter from Mo Dougherty, a plaintiff’s lawyer. Dougherty’s letter claims Specs’ website is not ADA compliant, and demands that Specs fix the problem immediately and pay Dougherty $2,500 or Dougherty will sue. While Specs knows the…