Back in january, a paralegal tried to convince me to suit my bank instead of going through a short sale. I didn't go for a law suit but in order to convince me he left with me an actual stack of papers from a real law suit. I didn't care to look and just put the papers in a drawer. Yesterday as I thought I'd look at the papers because my bank is giving me a lot of trouble. As I was going through the papers, I realized that there was an actual residential loan application attached with someone's complete identity information - their name, address, phone number, SSN and more. I am confounded by how an actual person in the law profession be so careless as to leave someone's complete identity information as a sample of work he does. I want to find out the following -1. Should I contact the people whose identity information was shared with me?2. Can they (the people whose personal information was shared) suit the paralegal or his law firm or take other legal action? If they do suit, what are the legal implications for me?3. Can I suit the paralegal since the information was shared with me?
Thank you for the post, I am happy to assist you by answering your questions.1. Yes, you should as this person would likely be interested to learn of the dissemination of his/her confidential information.2. Yes, but the damages for such a claim may not justify the suit. For example, if the only damage is that you now know that person's information but have not actually caused that person any harm, the person would have a very limited claim for damages (as no tangible damages were suffered). 3. No, you have no basis to sue the paralegal as you did not suffer any harm as a result of the disclosure.