Judge Sues for Website Violating Privacy Policy

An Ohio state judge and her daughter have sued various entities for breach of contract for revealing confidential registration information provided when an account was set up on Cleveland.com to comment on legal issues.

Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold alleges in her complaint that the Cleveland Plain-Dealer and Cleveland.com violated the website’s privacy policy by allowing a reporter access to the email address for “lawmiss.” The complaint alleges that the postings by lawmiss “were supposed to be anonymous,” but after the email address was disclosed to a reporter, the comments were no longer anonymous.

Some of the lawmiss comments apparently involved cases before Judge Saffold. A press release issued with the complaint states that Judge Safford’s daughter Sydney, not the judge, made the postings. The complaint states that the email account was shared with her daughter and had been originally established by the judge’s ex-husband.

In addition to the breach of contract claim, the complaint alleges fraud because the defendants had no intention of protecting the privacy of public officials who posted on their site.

The complaint seeks $25 million in damages.

Shirley Strickland-Saffold and Sydney Saffold v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. et al, Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.