The office in my apartment complex has lost my rent check. I gave it to an office employee inside the office. They say that often employees put the checks inside the outside drop box. And they have had problems of people stealing checks from said d ...

Submitted by Pisces92503 on

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The office in my apartment complex has lost my rent check. I gave it to an office employee inside the office. They say that often employees put the checks inside the outside drop box. And they have had problems of people stealing checks from said drop box. And that they currently have several rent checks missing. In addition they are not sure if any of these checks have been deposited or truly stolen. Is the office required to notify individuals if personal information has been stolen? What responsibility do they have to maintain the privacy of tenants personal information?

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DakotaLegal's picture

 

Submitted by DakotaLegal on

 
To help show this is a serious issue, you need to take some concrete steps. You need to be diligent, for example, in limiting any harm from the negligence of the rental company and its employees. Have you stopped payment on the check? Have you considered using the US Postal service and registered mail? Monitoring your savings account for unusual activity is now a service being offered by many credit-monitoring services. Keep in mind, be careful only to deal with creditable “credit monitors,” because some of these companies may also be security risks. Keep evdineec of all these pro-active steps (and their fees).
 
Try and discover exactly who owns the company or building where you rent. Usually, you can get this information from your local tax assessor. Here’s an example (it will vary, depending on what county the property is in): https://www.knoxcounty. org/apps /tax_search/index.php. This information will be important if you need to sue: be certain you are sending requests to fix the problems to the responsible party. It’s also often harder to successfully sue (and collect) from, say, a corporation rather than a partnership.
 
Proving Privacy Loss
 
One of the problems with winning any case against someone for releasing your private data is to show (or in this case, their agents) (a) HOW they actually released the information and (b) that the harm you may suffer resulted from that release.
 
Because of these difficulties in getting evidence, it’s often advisable to get help from a professional. You may, based on your income, be able to get free legal help. Try Tennessee legal aid: http://www.las.org/. If it’s a relatively large property management company, and this is a pattern of sloppiness, then you and other renters might want to band together and mediate this dispute. This mediation is often perfect for a law clinic at a Tennessee law school… http://law.utk.edu /centers-clinics/advocacy-center/.
 
Small Claims Court (Tennessee General Sessions Court) Is An Option
 
There’s no doubt this has caused aggravation. To sue in court, though, there have to have been some kind of actual, real damages. Any fees you may incur are exactly that (such as the stop payment fee, or new account charges, or maybe credit monitoring). You must be able to detail these costs. https://www. tncourts.gov/programs/self-help-center. You may argue you are able to deduct these reasonably small fees from your rent. If the problem escalates, however, into a real case of identity theft, then your need for evidence will increase…but so would your potential damages.
 
What Privacy Rights Exist In Tennessee?
 
Tennessee is one of the better states for protecting your privacy rights: meaning you have some rights to sue or claim damages if a party causes the wrongful release of your identifying information. Here’s a summary of Tennesee laws (a “Y” means, yes, you have some protections):
 
Arrest Records        Y
Bank Records          0
Cable TV              0
Computer Crime        Y
Credit                0
Criminal Justice      Y
Government Data Banks      Y
Employment            Y
Insurance             0
Mailing Lists         0
Medical               Y
Miscellaneous         Y
Polygraph          Y
Privacy Statutes      Y
Privileges            Y
School Records        Y
Soc. Security Numbers 0
Tax Records           Y
Telephone/Digital Service/Solicit Y
Testing               0
Wiretaps              Y
 
Other than the weak banking records privacy rights, Tennessee does have some of America’s tough laws against identity theft.
 
Showing your landlord negligently allowed release of information may also be addressed by a claim in what’s called Tort (for negligence and/or invasion of privacy) and perhaps under breach of contract.
 
The strongest case you can have will be to show they violated some aspect of Tennessee’s state privacy laws. http://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/ 2010/title-39/chapter-13/part-6/ and http://www.aicpa.org/InterestAreas/Information Technology/Resources/Privacy/FederalStateandOtherProfessionalRegulations/StatePrivacyRegulations/Pages/Tennessee%20State%20Security%20Breach%20Laws.aspx . Besides, being able to cite applicable rules or laws will also send a clear message to the company that you are taking this seriously….and so should they.

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DakotaLegal's picture

 

Submitted by DakotaLegal on

 
To help show this is a serious issue, you need to take some concrete steps. You need to be diligent, for example, in limiting any harm from the negligence of the rental company and its employees. Have you stopped payment on the check? Have you considered using the US Postal service and registered mail? Monitoring your savings account for unusual activity is now a service being offered by many credit-monitoring services. Keep in mind, be careful only to deal with creditable “credit monitors,” because some of these companies may also be security risks. Keep evdineec of all these pro-active steps (and their fees).
 
Try and discover exactly who owns the company or building where you rent. Usually, you can get this information from your local tax assessor. Here’s an example (it will vary, depending on what county the property is in): https://www.knoxcounty. org/apps /tax_search/index.php. This information will be important if you need to sue: be certain you are sending requests to fix the problems to the responsible party. It’s also often harder to successfully sue (and collect) from, say, a corporation rather than a partnership.
 
Proving Privacy Loss
 
One of the problems with winning any case against someone for releasing your private data is to show (or in this case, their agents) (a) HOW they actually released the information and (b) that the harm you may suffer resulted from that release.
 
Because of these difficulties in getting evidence, it’s often advisable to get help from a professional. You may, based on your income, be able to get free legal help. Try Tennessee legal aid: http://www.las.org/. If it’s a relatively large property management company, and this is a pattern of sloppiness, then you and other renters might want to band together and mediate this dispute. This mediation is often perfect for a law clinic at a Tennessee law school… http://law.utk.edu /centers-clinics/advocacy-center/.
 
Small Claims Court (Tennessee General Sessions Court) Is An Option
 
There’s no doubt this has caused aggravation. To sue in court, though, there have to have been some kind of actual, real damages. Any fees you may incur are exactly that (such as the stop payment fee, or new account charges, or maybe credit monitoring). You must be able to detail these costs. https://www. tncourts.gov/programs/self-help-center. You may argue you are able to deduct these reasonably small fees from your rent. If the problem escalates, however, into a real case of identity theft, then your need for evidence will increase…but so would your potential damages.
 
What Privacy Rights Exist In Tennessee?
 
Tennessee is one of the better states for protecting your privacy rights: meaning you have some rights to sue or claim damages if a party causes the wrongful release of your identifying information. Here’s a summary of Tennesee laws (a “Y” means, yes, you have some protections):
 
Arrest Records        Y
Bank Records          0
Cable TV              0
Computer Crime        Y
Credit                0
Criminal Justice      Y
Government Data Banks      Y
Employment            Y
Insurance             0
Mailing Lists         0
Medical               Y
Miscellaneous         Y
Polygraph          Y
Privacy Statutes      Y
Privileges            Y
School Records        Y
Soc. Security Numbers 0
Tax Records           Y
Telephone/Digital Service/Solicit Y
Testing               0
Wiretaps              Y
 
Other than the weak banking records privacy rights, Tennessee does have some of America’s tough laws against identity theft.
 
Showing your landlord negligently allowed release of information may also be addressed by a claim in what’s called Tort (for negligence and/or invasion of privacy) and perhaps under breach of contract.
 
The strongest case you can have will be to show they violated some aspect of Tennessee’s state privacy laws. http://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/ 2010/title-39/chapter-13/part-6/ and http://www.aicpa.org/InterestAreas/Information Technology/Resources/Privacy/FederalStateandOtherProfessionalRegulations/StatePrivacyRegulations/Pages/Tennessee%20State%20Security%20Breach%20Laws.aspx . Besides, being able to cite applicable rules or laws will also send a clear message to the company that you are taking this seriously….and so should they.