Re: Louisville firm sues over data on Yahoo!; Company critic posts material, hides his identity (HCRI)
Louisville firm sues over data on Yahoo!
Company critic posts material, hides his identity
By HAROLD J. ADAMS, The Courier-Journal
January 13, 2000
Yahoo! Inc., owner of the popular Internet portal, is caught in the legal crossfire between one of its message-board users and Healthcare Recoveries Inc. of Louisville.
The Louisville company has filed a federal lawsuit to stop the unknown user, who claims to be a former claims examiner for the company, from posting messages that accuse it of wrongdoing and from offering to reveal inside information.
The suit says the user has accused Healthcare Recoveries of "theft and mail fraud at the very least" in its business of recovering medical expenses for insurers and employers when a third party is ultimately responsible for a claim.
The user, who posts his messages under the names legal{HR15us and legal{HR1us, says in several messages that he has put together a free guide to help attorneys who are suing the company. The guide is said to identify key Healthcare Recoveries employees, explain the company's claims-identification process, its examiner training and more.
In its lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court, Healthcare Recoveries says the legal guide appears to violate trademark, copyright, unfair-competition and trade-secret laws that protect its proprietary information, along with confidentiality agreements signed by each of the company's employees. The suit asks the court to order the user to stop his activities and pay damages.
But it must first get Yahoo! to help it find out who is behind the names legal{HR1us and legal{HR15us.
Healthcare Recoveries says in the suit it believes that after a subpoena is issued, Yahoo! will disclose information to help it identify the user's Internet service provider, which could then expose his true name.
"When we're legally compelled to reveal information, we'll do so," Yahoo! spokesman Jackson Holtz said in an interview.
"In general, we comply with subpoenas."
Douglas Sharps, chief financial officer of Healthcare Recoveries, said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.
Claims made in filing a lawsuit give only one side of the case.
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