Summary Judgment - Federal Computer Trespass Case - Attorney Domingo Rivera

Domingo J. Rivera recently obtained summary judgment in a case involving an ex-husband accessing his wife's email and social network accounts without authorization. There has been some discussion in the news about a Michigan man that criminally charged with with accessing his wife's computer accounts. Some commentators have argued that utilizing the computer hacking statutes to prosecute these acts is overreaching, but so far, the courts have provided little guidance on this issue.

Many Federal and State computer crime statutes provide not only criminal, but also civil remedies for the victims. Recently,attorney Domingo Rivera handled one of these civil cases. As is the case for many pioneering cases handled by attorney Domingo Rivera, this was a case that other attorneys expressed doubt about and that opposing counsel openly minimized. In this case, the opposing party claimed that the divorce property settlement agreement barred our client's claims and filed a counterclaim against our client for breach of the agreement. We also obtained summary judgment dismissing this claim against our client.

The Court not only agreed with the legal argument advance by attorney Domingo Rivera, but also granted summary judgment. Obtaining summary judgment means that we prevailed as a matter of law and that a trial to establish liability was not necessary.

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