Administrative Law › Civil Procedure › Privacy

CFPB Issues Final Rule On FOIA And Litigation Procedures

The CFPB has issued a final rule that establishes procedures for the public to obtain information from the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, under the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act of 1974, and in legal...more

Déjà Vu All Over Again: California Federal Court Finally Tells Merchants When They Can Ask Consumers for Personal Infomation - But...

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California issued an opinion Dec. 17, 2012, that seems to answer definitively a question that has weighed on the minds of California merchants for the...more

Termination for Facebook Posting Does Not Violate State Invasion of Privacy Law

Recent court decisions related to employees’ online postings have centered on whether disciplinary decisions regarding those postings may violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRA protects certain employee...more

Illinois District Court Holds Complaint Placing At Issue Conduct Of Collection Agency States TCPA Claim Against Creditor

Martin v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, et al., No. 12 C 5147, 2012 WL 5048854 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 18, 2012) Plaintiff entered into a wireless contract with Defendant, which he later canceled. Plaintiff sent...more

The Ninth Circuit Holds That The TCPA Prohibits Automated Calls Even When They Do Not Refer To Any Specific Good Or Service

In Chesbro v. Best Buy Stores, LP, No. 11-35784, 2012 WL 4902839 (9th Cir. Oct. 17, 2012), the Ninth Circuit reversed the Western District of Washington’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Best Buy Stores, LP ("Best Buy")...more

Constitutionality of Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act Heading to Supreme Court of Canada

Today, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal from a decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal declaring the application of Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act to certain union activities during a strike...more

CA Supreme Court Accepts Review In Valdez v. W.C.A.B. (Warehouse Demo Services)

The California Supreme Court has unanimously voted to accept review in the matter of Valdez v. W.C.A.B. (Warehouse Demo Services) in order to address the following issue: Does Labor Code § 4616.6 exclude from evidence reports...more

Access Denied: Public Agencies and the Release of Public Records

When a public records request is received, it is often difficult to know what you must supply and, if you feel you should deny the request, what steps you should take to ensure you are in compliance with the law. Defending...more

Cloud Computing and the USA Patriot Act: Canadian Implications

A perennial issue in Canadian privacy law is what to do about the USA Patriot Act. Just when we think we have things reasonably sorted out, the issues pop up again in a new context. This time it is cloud computing. ...more

Seventh Circuit Restores FERPA Privacy Protections for FOIA Requests by Vacating Controversial Tribune v. University of Illinois...

On May 24, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit supported Illinois educational institutions’ long-held position that the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits...more

Protecting Trade Secrets: Intersection of Florida’s Public Records Laws and Regulatory Document Demands under the Florida...

Florida has expansive public records disclosure laws, which emanate from the Florida Constitution. Art. I, § 24, FLA. CONST., Ch. 119, Fla. Stat. It is doctrinal in Florida that virtually any document delivered to a state...more

Employers Cautioned Against Asking Applicants and Employees for Password Access to Personal Social Media Accounts

?Employers are increasingly asking (or requiring) applicants or employees to provide their Facebook password or other social media account log-in credentials so the employer can review non-publicly available content for...more

Employment Law Alert -- April 2012

In This Issue: First Law Passed Banning Request for Personal Passwords and NLRB Poster -- Delayed Again Excerpt from First Law Passed Banning Request for Personal Passwords Maryland has become the first state...more

Random Alcohol Testing Case Headed for Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether an employer must have “reasonable cause” to conduct random alcohol testing on unionized employees, or whether an inherently dangerous workplace is sufficient to justify random...more

Supreme Court: Temporary Government Employee Is Entitled To Same Immunity From Lawsuits As Full-Time Public Workers

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 17, 2012 that a private employee working for a governmental body is entitled to the same qualified immunity as full-time public employees. Filarsky v....more

Electronic Privacy Information Center v. The Federal Trade Commission

Opposition To Defendant's Motion To Dismiss And Reply In Support Of Plaintiff's Motion For Temporary Restraining Order And...

EPIC Urges Federal Court To Hold FTC Accountable for Failure to Enforce Google Consent Order In a reply brief filed today in Washington, DC, EPIC said that the Federal Trade Commission's failure to enforce the...more

Sanctions Imposed on Qui Tam Counsel for Failing to Meet Ethical Standards Relating to the Use of Privileged Documents

Relators and their counsel are being held accountable for the misuse of qui tam defendants’ confidential and privileged documents in connection with lawsuits alleging violations of the False Claims Act (FCA). As a January 12,...more

FCRA Class Actions on the Rise

This calendar year has produced an alarming trend in employment litigation to which employers should pay particular attention – a boom in the number of class action lawsuits filed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)...more

McMillan LLP Employment and Labour Group Newsletter 2011

Recent Developments in Employment and Labour Law - McMillanLLP December 2011 Newsletter...more

Facebook No Friend for FSCO Claimant

A FSCO arbitrator has ordered a claimant to produce to the insurer all photographs with her image posted to her Facebook profile (including any limited-access or private portion of her profile) for the period May 5, 2008 to...more

Filers Beware! Court of Appeal Rejects CNIL-approved Whistleblowing System

In a decision dated September 23, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Caen suspended the implementation of a whistleblowing system that had been previously authorized by the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) because, in the...more

In Re Application Of Tiie United States Of America For An Order Pursuant To 18 U.S.C. § 2703(D)

Memorandum Opinion Denying Motion to Vacate; Granting in Part & Denying in Part Motion To Unseal

Government demands for Twitter records of Birgitta Jonsdottir The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union represent Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of the Icelandic Parliament, in...more

Socially Aware - The Social Media Law Update - Volume 2, Issue 1

In this issue: Online Safe Harbor Immunity Extends to Forwarded Email Messages; NLRB’s “Facebook Firing” Case Settles; The More Things Change: Regulated Financial Firms in the Age of Social Media; Facebook Modifies Its...more

"Exposing Injustice or Airing Gossip? How U.S. Criminal Law Should Look at WikiLeaks"

Rarely does a single news story raise as many compelling legal quandaries as does the recent disclosures of confidential government information by WikiLeaks. Besides raising numerous questions with no clear answers —such...more

The United States Attorneys' Manual , Exserpts

The United States Attorneys' Manual is designed as a quick and ready reference for United States Attorneys, Assistant United States Attorneys, and Department attorneys responsible for the prosecution of violations of federal...more