LabMD v. Federal Trade Commission
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
894 F.3d 1221 (11th Cir. 2018)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
LabMD, Inc. (plaintiff) was a medical laboratory that received patients’ personal information as part of its day-to-day operations. Contrary to the company’s policy, a LabMD employee used a peer-to-peer file-sharing program on her LabMD computer, exposing patients’ personal information to other users of the sharing program. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (defendant) brought an enforcement action against LabMD, alleging that LabMD’s failure to maintain a sufficient data-security program negligently breached its patients’ right to privacy. The enforcement action resulted in the FTC issuing a cease-and-desist order. The order did not enjoin LabMD from undertaking a specific act or practice. Rather, the order required LabMD to create a new data-security program reasonably designed to the FTC’s satisfaction. The order did not make clear how exactly LabMD was to meet that standard. LabMD filed a petition for review of the order in federal court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Tjoflat, J.)
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