March v. Best Buy Stores, LP

111 F. Supp. 3d 1236, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70983, 2015 WL 3467036
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Alabama
DecidedJune 2, 2015
DocketNo. 7:13-cv-01478-LSC
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 111 F. Supp. 3d 1236 (March v. Best Buy Stores, LP) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
March v. Best Buy Stores, LP, 111 F. Supp. 3d 1236, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70983, 2015 WL 3467036 (N.D. Ala. 2015).

Opinion

Memorandum of Opinion

L. SCOTT COOGLER, District Judge.

Plaintiff Nicole March (“March”) brings this action under the Court’s diversity jurisdiction, and alleges various state law claims against Defendants Best Buy Stores, LP (“Best Buy”) and Geek Squad Technical Support (“Geek Squad”).1 March asserts that, while servicing her personal electronic devices, employees of Defendant Best Buy viewed and retained fifty-eight nude photographs of Plaintiff without her permission. The Court has before it both Plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment (Doc. 70) and Defendant’s motion for summary judgment (Doc. 84). Also before the Court is Plaintiffs motion to amend her complaint (Doc. 75), and the parties’ motions to strike certain evidence (Docs. 98, 99).

For the reasons set forth, Plaintiffs motion to amend is due to be granted, while her motion for partial summary judgment is due to be denied. Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is due to be granted as to Plaintiffs negligence/wantonness claim, and denied as to all remaining claims. Both parties’ motions to strike are denied.

I. Background 2

Plaintiff March was an employee at the Best Buy store in Tuscaloosa, Alabama from April 2011 until late 2013. Best Buy is a large consumer electronics retailer, while Geek Squad is a wholly-owned subsidiary that provides in-store customer assistance concerning customers’ personal electronic devices. Members of the Geek Squad worked in an area of the Best Buy store referred to as the “Geek Squad precinct.” While March worked at Best Buy’s Tuscaloosa location, she was not a member of the Geek Squad.

On multiple occasions, Plaintiff March has posed nude for photographs or has personally taken photographs of herself while nude. March stored these photographs on her personal electronic devices, including several external hard drives.3 On at least two occasions, March had external hard drives containing nude photographs serviced by the Geek Squad at Best Buy’s Tuscaloosa location. In August 2011, March brought two external hard drives (“Hard Drive 1” and “Hard Drive 2”) to Geek Squad for data recovery ser[1240]*1240vices. Hard Drive 1 was examined and later returned to March as functional. Hard Drive 2 was sent off-site in an effort to recover the data stored on it. However, the hard drive’s contents could not be accessed and it was returned to March in its non-functional capacity. Hard Drive 2’s contents remain inaccessible. March paid for these services and received a customer ticket documenting the transaction.

In March 2013, March brought a third external hard drive (“Hard Drive 3”) into the Tuscaloosa Best Buy for service by Geek Squad. While in the store, March purchased a fourth external hard drive (“Hard Drive 4”), and requested that Geek Squad transfer the contents of Hard Drive 3 to Hard Drive 4. March gave her devices to a Geek Squad member named John Young (“Young”) to complete the data transfer. March did not pay for this transfer service, and received no customer ticket documenting the services. However, March contends that her manager at the Best Buy location, James Meggs (“Meggs”), told her that Best Buy would complete the data transfer for March should she buy the new external hard drive at Best Buy’s Tuscaloosa location. Best Buy asserts that Meggs never made such a promise, and that, at most, the free transfer service was discussed after March purchased Hard Drive 4.

On May 11, 2013, Plaintiff March received a Facebook message from Nathan Smith (“Smith”). Smith was March’s former coworker, and was a Geek Squad employee at the Tuscaloosa Best Buy until March 15, 2013. In the Facebook message, Smith told March that he was in possession of “about 50 or so” nude photographs of her. Smith initially told March that he had obtained the photographs from accessing a link to a torrent website, and claimed the link was forwarded to him by a former Geek Squad employee who had last worked at the Tuscaloosa Best Buy in early 2012. March traveled to Smith’s house that night to view the photographs. After viewing the photographs on Smith’s computer, Smith downloaded the fifty-eight photographs at issue from his computer to a USB flash drive (the “March Flash Drive”). Smith then gave March the flash drive.

Later that night, Plaintiff March received a Facebook message from Charles Scarbrough (“Scarbrough”), who was also a Geek Squad employee at the Tuscaloosa Best Buy. Scarbrough informed March that he had heard of March’s predicament, and that he would personally find out whether anyone at the Geek Squad precinct had removed photographs from one of March’s external hard drives without her permission. On May 17, 2013, March received another Facebook message from Scarbrough, stating that he “had found the culprit” and had appropriately disciplined that person. However, Scarbrough asked March to “do him a favor” by not asking who the Geek Squad employee was that took the photographs. March never responded to this Facebook message. Scarbrough now asserts that he in fact never found the person responsible for removing March’s photographs, and that he told March otherwise in an effort to ease her mind. On May 20, 2013, March filed a police report concerning the matter.

In the days immediately following May 11, 2013, March told several supervisors and coworkers at Best Buy about the apparent theft of her photographs. According to Best Buy, an internal investigation was launched at that time, but to no conclusive result. Following the filing of the above-styled action on August 8, 2013, Best Buy reopened the investigation. Stephanie Miller (“Miller”), a human resources representative at Best Buy, led the investigation. While Miller was unable to determine if a Geek Squad employee [1241]*1241actually removed photographs from one of March’s personal devices, she did uncover that “customer data” — apparently March’s nude photographs — -were transferred to a personal flash drive4 using a Geek Squad computer. Scarbrough was logged into the computer at the time of the transfer. As a result, Scarbrough was terminated on July 13, 2014.

While it is undisputed that March’s photographs were transferred to the March Flash Drive using a computer in the Geek Squad precinct, the parties dispute the details surrounding this transfer. Relying on Smith’s Facebook message, March initially alleged that the theft occurred in August 2011. However, Smith has since changed his story about how he came into possession of the photographs. Smith now claims that he received the pictures from Scarbrough. Specifically, Smith now states that, in early March of 2013, Scarbrough showed Smith the photos, which were contained in a hidden file on a computer in the Geek Squad precinct. According to Smith, Scarbrough “alluded” that it was Matt Cox (“Cox”), another Geek Squad employee at the Tuscaloosa Best Buy, who removed the photographs from one of March’s electronic devices. See Doc. 85-11, at 73-75. Scarbrough then copied the pictures to the March Flash Drive for Smith to take with him. This is the same flash drive that Smith later gave to March when she visited his home to view the photographs on May 11, 2013. Both Scarbrough and Cox deny any involvement in downloading or viewing the photographs at issue. Because Smith has recanted his earlier story as to how he came into possession of March’s photographs, March now contends that the theft occurred when she brought Hard Drive 3 in for servicing in March 2013.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
111 F. Supp. 3d 1236, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70983, 2015 WL 3467036, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/march-v-best-buy-stores-lp-alnd-2015.