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People v. Jiang, 131 Cal. App. 4th 1027 (2005)

Weibin Jiang was arrested and charged with committing sexual offenses against an acquaintance. While he was out on bail, Jiang prepared numerous password-protected documents for his attorneys, which he saved in a folder labeled “Attorney” on his employer-issued laptop computer. The prosecutor obtained the documents by subpoenaing them from the employer (Cadence Design Systems) and…

Leonel v. American Airlines, Inc., 400 F.3d 702 (9th Cir. 2005)

Walber Leonel and two other individuals applied for flight attendant positions with American Airlines. Plaintiffs were interviewed in Dallas and received conditional offers of employment, contingent upon their passing background checks and medical examinations. Although none of the applicants disclosed his HIV-positive status or related medications, American conducted tests on the blood samples…

Jasmine Networks, Inc. v. Marvell Semiconductor, Inc., 117 Cal. App. 4th 794 (2004)

Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. and Jasmine Networks, Inc. are competitors in the business of designing and manufacturing telecommunications chips. Marvell offered to buy some of Jasmine’s technology, along with some of its engineers, and Jasmine accepted after negotiating a nondisclosure agreement preventing Marvell from obtaining Jasmine’s trade secrets or employees without paying…

Roe v. City of San Diego, 356 F.3d 1108 (9th Cir. 2004)

While working as a San Diego police officer, John Roe videotaped himself stripping off a generic police officer’s uniform and engaging in acts of masturbation. Roe sold the videos on the adults-only section of eBay – under the username “Code3stud@aol.com.” After one of Roe’s supervisors discovered the videos online and recognized Roe,…

Varian Med. Sys., Inc. v. Delfino, 113 Cal. App. 4th 273, 6 Cal.Rptr.3d 325 (2003)

Varian and two of its executives, George Zdasiuk and Susan B. Felch, sued two former employees, Michelangelo Delfino and Mary Day, after Delfino and Day used Internet bulletin boards to post more than 13,000 derogatory messages about Varian and the two executives. Among other things, Delfino (whose employment Varian…

Barbee v. Household Auto. Fin. Corp., 113 Cal. App. 4th 525 (2003)

Household Automotive Finance Corporation (HAFC) terminated the employment of its national sales manager, Robert Barbee, after learning that Barbee had a “special relationship” with one of his subordinate employees and after giving Barbee the choice of either ending the relationship or effecting his or the subordinate employee’s resignation. Barbee sued HAFC for…

Noel v. River Hills Wilsons, Inc., 113 Cal. App. 4th 1363 (2003)

Brandon J. Noel sued his former employer, River Hills Wilsons, Inc. (Wilsons), and a Wilsons manager, Shelly Santillan, for defamation arising from Santillan’s erroneous statements to a background investigator (Choice- Point) retained by Noel’s new employer (GTE) that Noel left Wilsons because of “loss prevention issues” and that his “rehire status” was…

Theofel v. Farey-Jones, 341 F.3d 978 (9th Cir. 2003)

Douglas Wolf and Richard Buckingham, officers of Integrated Capital Associates, Inc. (ICA), were embroiled in commercial litigation against Alwyn Farey-Jones when Farey-Jones’s lawyer, Iryna Kwasny, subpoenaed ICA’s Internet Service Provider, NetGate, broadly seeking “all copies of emails sent or received by anyone.” NetGate, which was not represented by counsel, responded that the amount of e-mail…

Operating Engineers Local 3 v. Johnson, 110 Cal. App. 4th 180 (2003)

Bonita Vinson and her union, Operating Engineers Local 3, filed this lawsuit against Sylvia Johnson, the Chief Probation Officer of the County of Alameda and the county, alleging violation of Vinson’s right to privacy. Vinson alleged that Johnson had made an announcement at a managerial meeting, in the presence of other employees…

Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, Inc., 302 F.3d 868 (9th Cir. 2002)

Robert Konop, a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines, created and maintained a website on which he posted bulletins critical of the airline and the incumbent union, the Air Line Pilots Association. Konop controlled access to his website by requiring visitors to log in with a user name and password, and the website expressly prohibited…