Monday, November 26, 2018

employment - employee information - employer duty to protect - damages


Dittman v. UPMC – Pa. Supreme Court – November 21, 2018

Held:

[A]n employer has a legal duty to exercise reasonable care to safeguard its employees’ sensitive personal information stored by the employer on an internet-accessible computer system.

Under Pennsylvania’s economic loss doctrine, recovery for purely pecuniary damages is permissible under a negligence theory provided that the plaintiff can establish the defendant’s breach of a legal duty arising under common law that is independent of any duty assumed pursuant to contract.