Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Judge to decide whether 15 months of suicide victim's cyberactivities have to be turned over

During a telephone conference today, a federal judge heard both sides of a discovery dispute between lawyers for the Carl Junction R-1 School District and attorneys representing parents who are suing the school district for not taking actions that could have prevented their teenage son's suicide.

At issue is the request by the school district's lawyers that the parents, Jessica and Mika Nugent, turn over records of all of their son's internet activity and text messages between January 1, 2012, and his death on March 16, 2013.

The request includes the following:

-All photographs, images, documents, videos, websites, pages, website links, or files the teen saved between January 1, 2012, and his death

-Internet browser history or histories or copies thereof, for all the internet browsing he did from Jan. 1, 2012, to his death, including, but not limited to web pages, web history, lists of websites, URL addresses, web browser software and settings, bookmarks, favorites, caches, and cookies.

-All posts, tweets, and messages sent or received between Jan. 1, 2012, and his death

-All e-mails

-All text messages and multi-media messages

-All browsing history from any cell phone

The school district's attorneys say the information is vital since so many things could have played a part in the boy's decision to end his life, while the attorneys for the parents accuse the school district of going on a "fishing expedition."

The judge is taking the arguments under advisement and will issue a written ruling, according to court documents.

Details about the lawsuit can be found at this link.

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