Thyroff v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
Court of Appeals of New York
864 N.E.2d 1272 (2007)
Nationwide Mutual Insurance (defendant) provided employee Thyroff (plaintiff) a computer system he used both for work and to store personal email and data, and upon terminating his employment, Nationwide repossessed the system, cutting off Thyroff's access to both his business and personal information; Thyroff sued for conversion of that information, the trial court dismissed for failure to state a claim, and the Second Circuit certified to the New York Court of Appeals the question of whether conversion applies to intangible electronic data.
Whether a plaintiff may bring a cause of action for conversion where the defendant intentionally asserts dominion over the plaintiff's intangible electronic computer data.