Protecting Client’s Privacy by Having Newspaper Story Killed
The client called stating that the sponsor entered their apartment without permission with a reporter of a major newspaper. The visit led to a call to the client’s cell phone. The client’s name and cell phone number was listed on every box in the new apartment despite ownership taken in an LLC. The reporter asked the client for a comment for buying the largest-priced sale of the week.
Concerned about their privacy, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was asked to kill the story. Calling the reporter resulted in a response that the sponsor legally allowed the reporter into the apartment and therefore the paper intended on printing the story.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. then drafted the following letter:
We are the attorneys for the owners of Unit xxx, xxx Avenue, New York, New York. We are aware that XXXXX employees, including XXXXXX, entered the above referenced apartment without permission and therefore illegally trespassed into the apartment. My clients do not wish to press charges and sue for trespassing but have authorized me to do so if any of the names but the LLC is printed in the story you are working on. We are aware that you could not have known the names of the owners of the LLC and their cell phone numbers without obtaining such information from boxes inside the apartment illegally entered. We reserve all rights accordingly.
The story was never printed and Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s client’s names never made the newspaper or any other public document by buying as an LLC.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s transactional team conducted the closing. Adam Leitman Bailey handled the privacy issues.