Dalley v. Dykema Gossett

Lincoln National Life Insurance Company and Lincoln Financial Advisors Corporation (collectively, Lincoln) (defendants) were involved in a federal business tort lawsuit with Rodney Ellis, one of Lincoln’s agents, in federal court. Scott Dalley (plaintiff), a computer consultant, worked with Ellis. In the federal lawsuit, Lincoln successfully sought a temporary restraining order (TRO), which prevented Ellis and Dalley (who was not a party to the lawsuit) from destroying any computer data related to Lincoln’s customers and financial records. Shortly after the court granted the TRO, Lincoln sent several individuals to Dalley’s home. Dalley, who worked independently on computer issues, had confidential client information on his computer, as well as his own confidential medical and tax information. At Dalley’s apartment, the Lincoln individuals threateningly demanded entry and made Dalley believe that the TRO authorized them to copy all his computer data, not just the small portion that related to Lincoln. The individuals told Dalley that they could either take the computer and hard drives or copy all the data. In response to these claims, Dalley allowed the individuals to copy the data, which took 11 hours. Dalley sued Lincoln for various privacy-related torts, including intrusion on seclusion. Lincoln moved for summary disposition, which the trial court granted. Dalley appealed. On appeal, Lincoln argued that (1) the TRO rendered the claim unenforceable (as the trial court had held), (2) Dalley consented to the intrusion, and (3) Lincoln’s methods were not objectionable to a reasonable person.