In follow up to to my "Wheels of Justice" Blog, the New York Courts are continuing to take defense lawyer's Facebook searches seriously. Looks like the issue is heading the New York's highest Court
Judges split on Facebook
The state’s highest court may soon decide when private Facebook accounts are off-limits in lawsuits.
A Manhattan appeals panel split Thursday over the issue, paving the way for the possible legal battle in Albany.
At issue is a case involving a New York woman named Kelly Forman, who sued a friend after falling off a horse on his Hamptons estate in 2011.
Forman claimed she was on pal Mark Henkin’s horse when the stirrup snapped. She said she suffered a brain injury that led to “social isolation” and “difficulty in communicating,” according to court papers.
Henkin’s lawyers sought to look at Forman’s Facebook messages and photos to see if she’s telling the truth about her injuries.
The midlevel appeals court ruled 5-1, in Forman’s favor, saying that her Facebook posts could not be used by lawyers on a “fishing expedition.”
But a dissenting judge, David Saxe, wrote that the disclosure of digital information for a personal-injury suit should be “no different than if the demand concerned hard copies of documents in filing cabinets.”