Garrity v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co.

Garrity and Clark (plaintiffs), employees of John Hancock (defendant), were fired after the company discovered they had forwarded sexually explicit emails to coworkers, violating a company policy that both prohibited such content and reserved management's right to access all employee email; the company had periodically reminded employees of the policy and given examples of past discipline. The employees sued for invasion of privacy, arguing that because the company taught them to create personal passwords and private folders, they reasonably expected their emails stored there were private; John Hancock moved for summary judgment.