Civil remedies

Civil remedies

Virginia, California, and New Jersey among others provide civil remedies for victims of computer crime.FN47 Virginia provides civil suits for damages resulting from violation of any provision of its computer crime statute.FN48 California provides the same, adding that the parents of juveniles can be held liable for damage done by the children in the course of committing acts that violate the state computer crime laws.FN49 New Jersey passed an act concerning civil liability at the same time that it passed its computer crime law.FN50

In New York a civil action for sabotage of a software program is possible. Such a case, in fact, entitled a law firm to punitive damages in an action against a computer consultant for breach of contract to modify and install computer software where the consultant inserted programming into that software that caused the computer to shut down after a certain claim number was reached. The consultant was motivated by the belief that the law firm would rehire him or her to correct the problem.FN51