Tag Archives: Publication

Making Records Accessible on the Internet Is a “Publication”


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We have all heard the question “if a tree falls in the forest…,” a philosophical experiment that raises questions of observation, knowledge, and reality. Whether or not the philosopher George Berkeley deserves credit for first raising the question, if still alive, he may have been disappointed in yesterday’s decision, Travelers Indem. Co. of Am. v. Portal Healthcare Solutions, LLC, No. 14-1944 (4th Cir. Apr. 11, 2016). In that case, the trial court had addressed the legal question of “whether materials are published if they are posted on the Internet, but no one reads them?”  As discussed by The Coverage Inkwell in August 2014, the trial court answered the question in the affirmative. Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the decision, but never really weighed in on the question. That’s too bad.

The facts of the case are straightforward. The insured Portal Healthcare Solution (“Portal”) specialized in the electronic safekeeping of medical records for hospitals, clinics, and other medical providers.  Travelers Indem. Co. of Am. v. Portal Healthcare Solutions, LLC, 35 F. Supp. 3d 765, 767-78 (E.D. Va. 2014). A New York putative class action was filed against it, alleging that Portal had failed to safeguard the confidentiality of the medical records of patients at Glen Falls Hospital (“Glen Falls”) by posting them on the Internet and making them publicly accessible through Internet searches. Id. Two patients of Glen Falls discovered the breach when they conducted a Google search for their names and found links that directed them to their Glen Falls medical records. Id. Read More

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