Scott Sidell, the former chief executive officer of structured settlement investments (ssi) was fired in august 2007 – he claimed in a complaint filed in federal district court (may 8, 2008) that he was fired without cause. During his employment with ssi, sidell had two email accounts: a microsoft outlook business account provided by ssi and a personal yahoo! Mail account. After he was fired, sidell neglected to turn off his office computer. Apparently, his personal account remained active on his office desktop so that it could be accessed without using his password for a period of up to two weeks. Sidell continued to use his personal account from his home. He used this account to communicate with his attorneys concerning strategies in his case regarding his termination without cause. In his complaint, sidell alleges that his superiors intercepted and read his private emails on his former office computer. He claims he did not authorize his superiors to access his personal yahoo! Email account nor did he provide them with his password. Richard palma, chief operating officer for ssi, subsequently filed a statement with the court claiming that sidell had returned to the office after being terminated and had used another employee’s computer to send trade secrets and confidential company information to his personal email account. This could constitute violation of a provision in his contract prohibiting sidell from competing against ssi for three years after leaving the company. However, if ssi had indeed learned of this alleged breach of contract while improperly reading sidell’s personal email, such action would support sidell’s complaint. You are in the midst of the discussion of sidell v. Structured settlement investments.

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