Restitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Restitution - Essay Example On October 15,1999, Liam Youens a resident of New Hampshire, shot and killed a young woman she had been running a trail on for several years named Lynn Amy Boyer. Youens had developed an obsession for Boyer since their high school years and had created a website featuring information about Boyer and his stalking tendencies with plans of eventually killing her. Youens employed an on-line service called Docusearch,Inc., to acquire personal information about her, including her place of work and social security number. A Docusearch subcontractor gathered her employment details under a fraudulent "pretext call." The subcontractor pretended to be an affiliate with her insurance company. Docusearch then sold their findings to Youens, who then traced her workplace, murdered her as she was leaving for work and committed suicide. The parents of Boyer filed a civil lawsuit against Docusearch for unfair death, privacy invasion through intrusion upon seclusion, privacy invasion through commercial acquisition of personal information, violation of the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and the violation of the New Hampshire Consumer Protection Act, alleging invasion of privacy, negligence and violation of the state consumer protection act. The New Hampshire Supreme Court found Docusearch at fault along the following legal theories. The private investigator would be held responsible since his revelations create a foreseeable risk of harm. The court also declared that one whose social security number is obtained under pretence and without the owner’s consent may have a cause of action for intrusion upon seclusion for the harm caused as a result of the sale of the number by the private investigator. Finally, the court concluded that obtaining a persons workplace address and later selling the information is guilty of harm under the state consumer protection act. This case was a success for the victims. After the ruling that docusearch would be held culpable