November 6, 2014 –
Another win for Gunster clients!

A California appellate court recently ruled that courts can compel Google, by subpoena, to produce the emails of an account holder, where the account holder provided lawful consent to the disclosure.

In so doing, the court rejected Google’s argument that the Stored Communications Act (18 U.S.C. § 2702) gave Google a discretionary power to decline to produce the email that would trump the court’s subpoena power and the account holder’s consent. The court also rejected the account holder’s argument that “lawful consent” under the Stored Communications Act means “voluntary consent” and prohibits a court from compelling the account holder to consent to disclosure.

The decision vindicates the account holder’s right to access stored communications and the court’s authority to compel the disclosure of emails that an account holder had deleted. Read the entire opinion of the court (Negro vs. Navalimpianti USA, 10/21/14)

Joseph L. Raia, a shareholder in Gunster’s Miami office and co-chair of the firm’s international law practice was lead attorney for Navalimpianti USA in the matter. He was assisted by Michael B. Green, a business litigation associate in Gunster’s Miami office.

This important decision was covered by the following media:

• Court says Google can’t withhold private emails if consent is given (Daily Business Review, 10/28/14 – subscription may be required to view)
• Google can be compelled to produce emails pursuant to a civil subpoena (ZwillGen blog, 10/23/14)
• Google can’t hide behind Stored Communications Act: court (Law360, 10/21/14 – subscription may be required to view)

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