Carroll County Times Articles
E-mail Signatures May Prevent Lawsuits
by David Hodgdon – March 01, 2009
Do you include a legal disclaimer with every e-mail you send? If not, recent court decisions against several companies prove you are leaving your business open to millions of dollars in lawsuits. While disclaimers don't protect against libelous or defamatory content, they do help demonstrate good faith should an e-mail fall into the wrong hands or inadvertently reveal proprietary information. Below are three of the eight reasons you absolutely must include disclaimers. For the complete report along with sample disclaimers and instructions for automatically including them in your e-mail, go to www.hfitservices.com/e-mail.
# Breach of confidentiality: Warning that the contents of the e-mail are confidential gives you a basis for holding the recipient liable should they mishandle the information. Care should be taken when forwarding e-mail because the originator may be revealing information intended for your eyes only. Forwarding the e-mail without permission may breach confidentiality and could land you in hot water now that e-mail is a legal vehicle for many types of contracts and agreements.
# Accidental breach of confidentiality: No matter how hard you try, e-mail will occasionally be delivered to someone other than the intended recipient. An incorrect address or spam filter could result in the e-mail being forwarded to a system administrator who may view the contents while determining how to handle the undeliverable mail. Many executives have an administrative assistant who "opens" and filters their e-mail. Without a disclaimer, this assistant is only bound by their employer's policies. Properly wording the disclaimer may bind this individual to your rules of confidentiality, too.
# Negligent misstatement: Most states and the federal government have laws governing distribution of professional advice to a third party. If you or your employee gives professional advice in an e-mail, your company will be liable for the effect of the advice the recipient reasonably relies on.
The legal system is always trying to catch up with technology. A disclaimer is intended to protect you from frivolous lawsuits and honest mistakes. At a minimum, the disclaimer you use will demonstrate you are making a good-faith effort to properly handle the distribution of proprietary information. It is uncertain how binding the disclaimers are because their influence on legal action varies between jurisdictions. However, using a properly worded disclaimer has helped many companies and may exempt you from certain liabilities when combined with a published company e-mail policy. Be sure your company lawyer approves your disclaimer and e-mail policy before use.
About the Author
David Hodgdon is an IT consultant, the owner of Hassle Free IT Services (www.HFITservices.com) of Westminster and a member of the Carroll Technology Council. Call him with your computer questions at 410-861-5615 or e-mail david@HFITservices.com. Businesses with at least 10 computers receive two free hours of tech support.
