There have been a couple of very interesting opinions coming out of New York recently. I’ll lay out the decisions below, but my reading of these decisions tells me that if you’re a lawyer in New York, you should suggest to your clients that they shutdown their Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or any other social media account immediately because chances are, the other side will be able to get access to these accounts if they ask.

Opinion 843 – Accessing Public Facebook and MySpace Information for use in trial.


The first is an ethics opinion from the New York State Bar Association (PDF) that asks if a lawyer may:

“view and access the Facebook or MySpace pages of a party other than his or her client in pending litigation in order to secure information about that party for use in the lawsuit, including impeachment material, if the lawyer does not “friend” the party and instead relies on public pages posted by the party that are accessible to all members in the network.”

Attorneys were still not clear whether looking and using information from a person’s Facebook, MySpace or other social media pages that were public violated the ethical rules of the state. Well, fear no longer my friend, and the Committee on Professional Ethics ruled that:

“A lawyer who represents a client in a pending litigation, and who has access to the Facebook or MySpace network used by another party in litigation, may access and review the public social network pages of that party to search for potential impeachment material. As long as the lawyer does not “friend” the other party or direct a third person to do so, accessing the social network pages of the party will not violate Rule 8.4 (prohibiting deceptive or misleading conduct), Rule 4.1 (prohibiting false statements of fact or law), or Rule 5.3(b)(1) (imposing responsibility on lawyers for unethical conduct by nonlawyers acting at their direction).”

Romano vs. Steelcase – Access to private and deleted Facebook and MySpace accounts


The second decision came from Judge Jeffrey Arlen Spinner of Suffolk County Supreme Court decision of Romano v. Steelecase (PDF). In this decision, the court granted the:

“Defendant access to Plaintiff’s current and historical Facebook and MySpace pages and accounts, including all deleted pages and related information”

In this case where the Plaintiff was asking for damages for personal injuries, the Defense was claiming that they had reason to believe that the Plaintiff posted pictures and information that showed she was not suffering from a loss of enjoyment of life. Not only did the Defendant want to access the private portions of the Plaintiff’s account, but they also wanted access to any deleted information.
Judge Spinner agreed ordered that the:

Plaintiff shall deliver to Counsel for Defendant STEELCASE a properly executed consent and authorization as may be required by the operators of Facebook and MySpace, permitting said Defendant to gain access to Plaintiff’s Facebook and MySpace records, including any records previously deleted or archived by said operators

Bottom line in New York (and possibly every place else in the United States): Expect everything you post on Facebook or MySpace to be considered public information by the courts, and don’t expect that your self-imposed privacy settings will protect you if you’re ever taken to court.