Legal Question in Technology Law in Georgia
ISP lost my site - any recourse?
My ISP was sold to another ISP and one of my web sites disappeared. I e-mailed tech support and was told they had ''lost my site''. That is a quote. I called them and got transferred to multiple people, none of whom knew what had happened with my site. I wrote their legal department last week and said I either wanted my site found or I was going to expect to be reimbursed for the cost of re-creating it from scratch. No response. To add insult to injury, they just billed me for my site...which they can't find!
This was the authorized web site for a professional actress and I think I may also have an argument that she has been damaged by this.
I'm in Wisconsin; old ISP was in California; new ISP is in Georgia. Any advice or a name of a good lawyer in Georgia who might be able to help me?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: ISP lost my site - any recourse?
I feel.. you should go after your original ISP provider in CA first. I am assuming you did not enter into a brand new agreement with the new ISP provider in GA. Since you don't have a privity of contract with the GA company...it would be better to go after the CA company first...let them counter-claim against the GA ISP. If you need any help call me at 818-481-9284.
Re: ISP lost my site - any recourse?
When you are suing an ISP for their negligence, breach of contract, etc., you probably want a firm that has experience in civil litigation, technology law and even intellectual property.
As to the dispute itself, there are a number of issues at stake. Is the statement from tech support in e-mail form, or did they tell you on the phone? What other explanation has either ISP given you? Are they still trying to "find" your site? Does your site generate any profit? What are the terms of the old and new ISP? Were you contracted or paid by the actress to create this site? If so, who owns the content of the site--you or the actress' representative? How much time, effort and expense went into the creation of the original site? As you can tell, there are a number of questions to answer to sort out all rights and obligations in this situation. Feel free to contact me or check out our website (www.hklaw.org) for information about our firm.
Re: ISP lost my site - any recourse?
I would take a close look at your ISP service agreement (which is often not very favorable to the consumer), and then focus your energy on mitigating (minimizing) your damages. It certainly couldn't hurt to send them the bill for reconstructing the site and lost e-commerce revenue, even though they may ignore it. I assume that you will want to reconstruct it whether they pay or not since it is a business site.
When all else fails, you can always sue. Even though they will probably have an arbitration clause in their contract, the suit will attract some attention to your problem.
You can probably sue the ISP in the state where the service is provided for starters, because they are doing business there, providing jurisdiction to your state's courts. Again, your contract may specify a different state, but the suit will attract their attention at minimum, which may solve the problem.