Bernie Sanders Will WIN His Lawsuit

[Segami]

As a young lawyer and Sanders supporter, I was very interested to read the lawsuit filed by the Sanders’ campaign regarding the DNC’s decision to deny the campaign access to DNC voter data. Paragraph 13 of the Complaint is particularly important as it recites the termination clause of the agreement between the DNC and the Sanders’ campaign:

Either party may terminate this Agreement in the event that the other party breaches this Agreement; the non-breaching party sends written notice to the breaching party describing the breach; and the breaching party does not cure the breach to the satisfaction of the non-breaching party within ten (10) calendar days following its receipt of such notice.

The facts about what happened are still developing, but assuming there are no other provisions in the agreement between the DNC and the campaign, the DNC’s actions appears to be an obvious violation of the agreement. From what I have read, it sounds like the Sanders’ staffer did not handle the situation in a way most people would consider appropriate. From a legal perspective, however, the Complaint (paragraph 19) claims that the actions, even if stupid or improper, were not a violation of the agreement with the DNC:

The Agreement does not obligate the Campaign to maintain specific security measures with respect to Confidential Information, to notify the DNC of security breaches arising in the DNC’s Voter Data systems, or to protect any confidential information inadvertently disclosed to the Campaign by the DNC.

Thus, the DNC did not appropriately terminate the agreement and there would be no valid reason to justify the DNC terminating the agreement. It will be interesting to see the DNC’s response, but on the face of the Complaint the DNC should be ordered to immediately restore access to the campaign data. The DNC should also have to pay some amount of damages for breaching the agreement.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/19/1461690/-Bernie-Will-Win-His-Lawsuit

[Lithos]

1. Thanks

Technically the vendor is at fault.

However, I was wondering what the legal grounds were... This is very informative.

Thanks!

L-

[MohRokTah]

2. The lawsuit will go nowhere.

The DNC did not terminate the agreement. It temporarily denied access to the data until an independent audit is completed.

The Sanders campaign could have ended this all on Wednesday had they cooperated. They did not and as yet have not.

What are they hiding?

[Segami]

5. Heh,..

I do enjoy your comedy schtick...

[Plucketeer]

7. Ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa....

They've got their access back already. And I'm DYING to hear how that legitimate lawsuit plays out. Please, come back and share more "insights" with us.

And a hearty THANKS! to DWS for polishing Sanders integrity badge!

[bvf]

11. You know, you can always edit your post

to bring it into conformance with reality.

[Hepburn]

3. I am an old retired lawyer and I totally agree! KNR

[dragonlady]

4. An interesting statement in the complaint

This paragraph jumped out at me:

39) Defendant has failed to implement reasonable data security measures, resulting in the inadvertent disclosure of the Competing Campaign's Confidential Information. Upon information and belief, the Plaintiff's Confidential Information has also been disclosed. (emphasis added; similar language at paragraphs 49 and 54)

This implies there is evidence that Bernie's campaign data was also compromised. No attorney would use that language in court pleadings without at least a reasonable belief that the statement is true. To do otherwise would risk censure proceedings and could lead to possible disbarment. Who acquired Bernie's data? Will that be revealed in the course of this litigation? We'll have to wait and see.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

6. yes

good point

[Beartracks]

8. Interesting. Suppose the db was hacked to get at Sanders' data, then...

... it could perhaps have been totally compromised, with everyone being able to see everything.

Or, it could've been a bona fide bug or mistake at the vendor level, as I've read.

In any case, that jives with the fired IT tech stating that the queries being run on HRC's data were designed to confirm the severity of spillover, since the Sanders camp could be reasonably certain their own data was spilling over to the other side, too.

==================

[Fantastic Anarchist]

9. Oh, nice find!

Hmmm, this is going to get more interesting.

[appalachiablue]

10. The guy who was fired stated that Bernie's files were also accessed. It was in a post article.

[wouldsman]

12. Proud of Team Bernie tonight.

When I saw the headlines early Friday morning accusing the Sanders campaign of data theft I was heart broken. I worried that my dream candidate had truly been involved in something horrible and corrupt and was about to go down in flames. I just had a sick feeling inside.

In one day Team Bernie was able to get the facts out to the public as to exactly what had gone down. Using his legal Complaint to quickly and carefully lay out the details of what had happened, this week and in previous months, and what the relationship was between his campaign and the Voter Data systems was brilliant. He and his team have cleared my mind up that not only were their actions legal and appropriate, but that he is the man that is ready for the 7 a.m. phone call. He and his team have great resilience and great ability to "put out fires". Of course, it helps to put out a fire if there is no actual flames there to start with.

This in contrast to HRC who has not been able to put out the Benghazi email fire after over a year.(Another fire with no flames). HRC may have been able to contain the damage of E-ghazi so that it did not consume her entirely, but she came out damaged all the same.

Bernie today showed how you handle controversy and thus passed a huge test today. Congrats!

Tonight I feel more committed than ever to my candidate.