Relationship of Torts to Risk Management: eHarbour Sample Memorandum

LS311 Business Law
Unit 4 Assignment
Student Name: Jane Doe
Date: May 29, 2022
MEMORANDUM
Date: April 29, 2022
To: Daniel Hudson
From: Jane Doe
Re: Potential Liability for Data Breach
Introduction
eHarbour recently experienced a cybercriminal attack that involved exposing its computer system to malware. In particular, one of the company's employees accidentally opened an email that they believed was sent by the State of Florida Division of Corporations. The said correspondence had an attachment to it. As a result of the incident, the credit card information, phone numbers, addresses, names, and other identifying information of all the company's customers have been compromised. This memorandum aims to examine the possible civil liability against eHarbour for negligence as provided under the state law of Florida for the data breach.
Liability for Negligence
The customers of eHarbour whose data have been compromised by the data breach may initiate legal action against the company claiming compensation for damages resulting from liability for negligence. Therefore, as an organization, we must analyze the extent to which we may be liable for the incident as stipulated in Florida law. In Florida, the tort of negligence arises when a party fails to use or exercise reasonable care to reduce the risk of harm to others (FindLaw.com, 2019a). The customers must demonstrate on a balance of probabilities that eHarbour had a legal obligation to use due care in protecting customers’ personal information (Arlen, 2013). Our company must be seen as an entity that applies the reasonably prudent person standard. We could accomplish the goal by ensuring that we have put sufficient security measures to prevent unauthorized third parties from gaining access to our customers' personal information. In this respect, eHarbour is potentially liable for negligence because the organization failed to put sufficient measures to mitigate and eliminate the risk of cybercriminals launching a successful attack on its computer system via email.
The failure on the part of the employee to scan the sent attachment for...