One State, Two Cases, Dramatically Different Outcomes

Two public entities, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Rock County Office of Child Support Enforcement—both with snooping employees and both facing class-actions by victims to recoup losses. So why was there a $2 million discrepancy in their outcomes?

Employee Actions

First, the cases.

DNR agent John Hunt accessed the Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) records of 5,000 Minnesotans 19,000 times. Hunt mainly accessed the records of females, many of them public figures in Minnesota. 

Child Support Officer Janet Kay Patten improperly viewed the DVS records of approximately 3,000 people, over a 13-month period, many of them friends, coworkers and neighbors.

Both were deemed to have violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). There is no evidence that either individual disseminated or sold the information they obtained. While their actions appear very similar, the impacts on both the employees and their respective agencies were not. 

Financial Impact for the Employing Agencies

In the case of John Hunt, the DNR escaped the litigation net entirely as the class-action suits were dismissed by District Judge Joan Ericksen, who ruled that private individuals cannot sue state agencies under the federal DPPA. This is especially interesting when compared with the Rock County case, in which, the MN county insurance trust, on behalf of Rock County, has agreed to a $2 million settlement to prevent the class action from going forward.

Personal Ramifications

Both Hunt and Patten were fired from their respective positions with the MN-DNR and Rock County.  Hunt was charged with six counts including: Misconduct of Public Officer, two counts of Unauthorized Computer Access, Use of Encryption to Conceal Commission of a Crime, and two counts of Unlawful Use of Private Data.  An investigation into Patten’s actions found no “nefarious intent.” Though she was terminated as a child support officer for her conduct, she has not been charged criminally for her actions.

Why Settle?

When asked about the settlement justification, Robyn Sykes, executive director of the insurance trust, told the Star Tribune, “We talked about the facts of the case, the size of the class; all of those kinds of things I think kind of played into the issue of settling this one.” 

The question remains, however; what would have happened if, like the DNR, they had allowed the case to proceed?