Dyer v. Northwest Airlines Corp.

Dyer v. Northwest Airways Corp.334 F.Supp.2nd 1196In the USA District Courtroom for the District of North DakotaCase Quantity A1-04-33Before Chief Choose HovlandDecided on September 08, 2004

Relevancy of the Case: Declare beneath the Digital Communications Privateness Act towards an airline for sharing passenger particulars with NASA

Statutes and Provisions Concerned

The Digital Communications Privateness Act, 18 USC § 2702 (“ECPA”)
The Federal Guidelines of Civil Process (Rule 12 (b)(6))

Related Info of the Case

The defendant, Northwest Airways, shared the private knowledge of the plaintiff passengers as requested by NASA. NASA wanted this data for conducting analysis.
This data contained numerous particulars in regards to the passengers, similar to identify, handle, bank card, and many others.

Distinguished Arguments by the Counsels

The plaintiff’s counsel argued that the defendant transferred his private knowledge with out his information. This violated particular provisions of the Digital Communications Privateness Act. Furthermore, this sharing additionally violated the airline’s privateness coverage and, therefore, additionally led to a breach of contract.
The defendant’s counsel submitted that the airline bought conventional services by means of a web site. It didn’t present an digital communication service. Therefore, the ECPA just isn’t relevant. Furthermore, the privateness coverage doesn’t represent a contract and, due to this fact, didn’t result in a breach of contract. Additional, the plaintiff has failed to assert any contractual damages.

 Opinion of the Bench

The defendant didn’t have interaction in companies on the Web however solely bought conventional services or products on-line.
The plaintiff’s ECPA declare is, due to this fact, not sustainable.
The broad statements on the airline’s web site don’t give rise to contract claims. There was no breach of contract. Furthermore, the plaintiff’s failure to assert contractual damages ends in no treatment to the stated motion.

Remaining Determination

The court docket allowed the defendant’s movement to dismiss the motion.