The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission filed a disciplinary complaint against a former Illinois assistant public defender, Kristine Ann Peshek, for revealing confidential information about her clients and "assisting a criminal or fraudulent act" on her blog, "The Bardd [sic] Before the Bar -- Irreverant [sic] Adventures in Life, Law, and Indigent Defense."

Peshek worked for the Winnebago County Public Defenders' Office from December 1989 until April 2008.  She was fired when her supervisor found out about the blog in April 2008.  A disciplinary action was filed against Pershek on August 25, 2009, alleging violations of several Rules of Professional Conduct in Illinois and describing Peshek's use of clients' first names or jail identification numbers in her blog entries.

The complaint quotes an entry from Peshek's blog from mid-March 2009, the time when she was defending a college student charged with possession: "#127409 (the client's jail identification number) This stupid kid is taking the rap for his drug-dealing dirtbag of an older brother because 'he's no snitch.'"

The complaint also includes the following excerpt from the blog: 

Peshek denied the allegations in a September 10, 2009 email to the ABA Journal, and said she was looking for an attorney. 

The complaint alleges that Peshek violated five rules:

In March 2000, AnswerThink, a business and technology consulting firm, fired Gregory P. Hackett for allegedly criticizing the company on a Yahoo! forum and sued him for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and loyalty, and defamation in Florida federal court.

AnswerThink fired and sued Hackett after subpoenaing Yahoo! and learning Hackett's identity during a related lawsuit, AnswerThink Consulting Group v. Doe. In that lawsuit, AnswerThink sued Hackett and several others as John Does for defamation.

Hackett and AnswerThink settled both cases in July 2000.

In a related matter, Hackett sued Yahoo! in California federal court in May 2000 for violating his privacy when it complied with AnswerThink's subpoena. Hackett and Yahoo! settled in August 2000.

Allegheney Energy ("AE") fired Clifton Swiger for allegedly posting anonymous criticism of the company and racial epithets on a Yahoo! forum.  AE said the posts were a violation of AE's diversity policy.

In October 2003, AE sued Swiger as a John Doe defendant, but withdrew the lawsuit after it learned Swiger's identity from Yahoo!  (See Allegheney Energy v. Doe for details.)  AE fired Swiger on December 10.

In October 2005, Swiger sued AE and Morgan Lewis & Bockius ("ML&B"), AE's attorneys, for abuse of process, wrongful use of civil proceedings, intrusion of seclusion, and publication of private facts in Pennsylvania federal court.  The defendants moved to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds, arguing that because two of ML&B's partners were U.S. citizens domiciled abroad, Swiger's complaint failed to establish diversity.  The trial court agreed and dismissed the case in February 2007. 

Swiger appealed the decision in March 2007.

Update:

08/25/2008 - The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal for failure to establish diversity jurisdiction. 

In mid-February 2008, CNN fired Chez Pazienza, a senior producer for the "American Morning" program. According to Pazienza, CNN fired him because of his personal blog, Deus Ex Malcontent, and because of his blogging for the Huffington Post.

Although Pazienza's blog often contains strong opinions on politics, the news media, and other topics, he did not discuss his job at CNN or identify himself as a CNN employee. Pazienza says that his superiors cited a CNN rule which prohibits employees from writing for a "non-CNN outlet" without first obtaining permission, and that he was fired with no advance warning or severance pay.

Best Western International (BWI) is a non-profit organization whose members operate Best Western hotels around the world. In May 2006, the website "www.freewrites.com" was established as a forum for BWI members and "governors" to discuss matters about BWI administration on a confidential basis. (BWI "governors" act as liasons between the members and the board of directors.) Although designed as a forum for members and governors only, the website was accessible to members of the public who knew of its location. The site was not authorized by BWI.

Proposed changes in BWI's method of operation drew extensive comment and criticism from anonymous posters on the site.

In June 2006, BWI brought a lawsuit in federal court in Arizona against the website administrator (John Doe), as well as BWI members who posted comments on the website ('Jane Does 1-X') and BWI governors who posted comments on the website ('John Does 1-X'). BWI alleged defamation and trademark infringement, as well as breach of contract, breach of implied contract, and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The complaint did not specify any allegedly defamatory statements.

BWI moved for expedited discovery, requesting permission to serve subpoenas on various internet service providers. The subpoenas sought disclosure of the identities of the operator of the forum site and those individuals who had posted messages.

Following Doe v. Cahill, 884 A.2d 451 (Del. 2005), the court denied BWI's motion to expedite discovery, concluding that BWI had not made a sufficient evidentiary showing to overcome the defendants' qualified First Amendment right to engage in anonymous speech. The court stressed that BWI had failed to identify a single false statement made by the anonymous defendants, a single item of confidential information posted on the site by them, or a single instance where BWI's mark was improperly used. Best West. Int'l v. Doe, 06-cv-01537, slip op. at 7 (D. Ariz. July 25, 2006). The court left open the possibility that BWI could meet its required evidentiary showing on a renewed motion.

During the course of litigation, two defendants came forward of their own accord: James Furber, the operator of the website, and James Dial, a BWI member who posted comments on the site.

BWI renewed its motion for expedited discovery seeking disclosure of the identities of the remaining anonymous defendants, and the court granted the motion in October 2006. The court found that BWI had overcome the defendants' qualified First Amendment right to engage in anonymous speech by introducing evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of fact on its breach of contract claims. Best West. Int'l v. Doe, 06-cv-01537, slip op. at 9-10 (Oct. 25, 2006).

In the same opinion, the court dismissed the trademark and unfair competition claims in BWI's original complaint because there was no allegation that the defendants had used BWI's marks in connection with the sale or advertising of goods or services. See id. at 4-5. The dismissal was without prejudice, and the trademark claims appeared again in BWI's amended complaints.

In November 2006, BWI named Furber and Dial in its first amended complaint. After conducting discovery, BWI filed its second amended complaint in August 2007, naming six defendants: James Dial, Nidrah Dial, James Furber, Teresa Furber, Loren Unruh, and Gayle Unruh. James and Nidrah Dial and Loren Unruh are BWI members.

In May 2007, the court denied James Furber's motion for summary judgment without prejudice, finding it premature. It granted Furber leave to re-file his motion after August 17, 2007.

Update:

8/21/2007 - Best Western filed second amended complaint.

9/10/2007 - James Dial filed answer to second amended complaint.

11/28/2007 - Parties filed joint stipulation to dismiss defendant Theresa Thurber.

5/9/2008 - Defendants James Dial, Nidrah Dial, Loren Unruh, Gayle Unruh, and James Furber moved for summary judgment.

9/5/2008 - The court granted in part and denied in part the defendants motion for summary judgment.

10/20/2008 - Court denied the plaintiffs' motion to dismiss Dial's counterclaim.

12/5/2008 - Court referred the case to a magistrate for a settlement conference. 

3/12/2009 - Court dismissed the case with prejudice after the parties stipulated to the dismissal.

Permanente Medical Group, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (Kaiser) sued fomer employee Elisa Cooper in California state court in March 2005. The complaint alleged that Cooper breached a confidentiality agreement and invaded the privacy of Kaiser patients by posting on her personal blog documents containing the confidential health information of Kaiser member patients. Kaiser asked the court to enjoin Cooper from pubishing this information and to return any documents in her possession containing this information.

Cooper disputes that she published Kaiser internal documents. According to her blog, Cooper found a Kaiser document called the "Systems Diagram" on a public website long after she was terminated from her employment with Kaiser. The Systems Diagram apparently containd names, IP addresses, computer codes, and screenshots that Cooper considered a breach of HIPAA, a federal law that protects the confidentiality of patient health information. In her account, Cooper posted links to the Systems Diagram on her blog in order to bring the breach to the attention of government agencies, but did not host the materials.

On March 24, 2005, the court issued a preliminary injunction barring Cooper from disseminating patient information. On December 19, 2005, the court granted summary judgment to Kaiser on its invasion of privacy claim. On January 19, 2005, the court entered a permanent injunction barring Cooper from the posting health information of Kaiser's member patients and ordering her to destroy all materials in her possession containing this information.

On her blog, Cooper indicated that she would be appealing the ruling, but we have been unable to determine the status of her appeal.