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.
