Legal Question in Technology Law in South Dakota

Am I liable for a customer's data?

A customer brought me an older laptop for repair and it was not worth repairing so he said he was going to look into buying another laptop. After the laptop was left with me for a couple of months he called and asked if I could get the data off the hard drive if he bought another computer. I said yes and that I would keep the laptop. He called back two months later after I had moved out of state and is threatening to sue becuase I threw the laptop out. I threw it out because I did not hear back from him but I did not call him either. I had a signed service request that says I am not responsible for lost data but it has been lost in the move. Does he have a case against me?


Asked on 1/29/08, 2:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Anderson Anderson Business Law LLC

Re: Am I liable for a customer's data?

I would like to see your written service agreement, but you may have liability, both in contract and tort for the loss of data. Given the ease and minimal expense of data backup these days, it may be considered negligence to fail to retrieve and store such data, particularly following a specific agreement to do so, made in exchange for retaining the hardware. What is the customer alleging the value of lost data is worth?

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Answered on 1/29/08, 3:07 pm


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