## Facts

- Bill McLaren, Jr. worked for Microsoft and used a company-owned computer and Microsoft’s internal email system for work.
- Access to the email system required a network password known to Microsoft and McLaren.
- Microsoft’s email software allowed users to store messages in “personal folders,” which could be protected by a user-created “personal store” password.
- McLaren used a personal store password and alleged Microsoft, by permitting password-protected personal folders, recognized his expectation that the folders would be free from intrusion.
- McLaren acknowledged it was technically possible for Microsoft to decrypt the personal store password.
- Microsoft suspended McLaren during an investigation into alleged sexual harassment and other workplace issues.
- After McLaren’s termination, he alleged Microsoft accessed some or all of his personal folders and disclosed their contents to third parties.
- McLaren sued for common-law invasion of privacy (intrusion upon seclusion) based on Microsoft’s review and alleged dissemination of his stored workplace emails.
- The trial court sustained Microsoft’s special exceptions and dismissed for failure to state a claim; McLaren appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether an employee states a Texas claim for intrusion upon seclusion when an employer accesses and disseminates emails stored in password-protected “personal folders” on the employer’s email system.
2. Whether password protection and use of “personal folders” on an employer-owned, employer-administered system creates a legally cognizable reasonable expectation of privacy in the stored emails.

## Decision

- The court of appeals affirmed the dismissal for failure to state a cause of action.
- The court held McLaren did not plead facts showing a reasonable expectation of privacy in emails stored on Microsoft’s email system, even when placed in password-protected personal folders.
- Because no legally protected privacy interest was shown, the intrusion-upon-seclusion claim failed on the pleadings.

## Legal Principles

- Texas intrusion upon seclusion requires (1) an intentional intrusion into another’s private affairs and (2) an intrusion that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
- A threshold requirement for intrusion upon seclusion is a legally protected privacy interest, often framed as a reasonable expectation of privacy in the place or information at issue.
- Use of an employer-owned email system—where messages are transmitted through, stored on, and administratively accessible within the employer’s network—generally defeats an employee’s claim of a reasonable expectation of privacy in those messages on the facts alleged.
- Password protection alone does not create a protected privacy interest where the employer controls the system and can access or override the protection.

## Conclusion

The court held that, as pleaded, an employee had no reasonable expectation of privacy in emails stored on an employer-owned and administered system, and password-protected “personal folders” did not convert workplace email into a legally protected private space for purposes of Texas intrusion-upon-seclusion liability.


McLaren v. Microsoft Corp., No. 05-97-00824-CV, 1999 Tex. App. LEXIS 4103 (Tex. App.—Dallas May 28, 1999)