Does replevin apply to digital assets?

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted September 10, 2021 10:57 AM

Does replevin, the statutory remedy for recovery of “goods or chattels” that have been wrongfully taken or detained, 735 ILCS 5/19-101, apply to valuable digital data? The question came up when Walgreens Co. sued Aaron Peters, former senior director of its planning and research department. Peters allegedly copied 30,000 emails and attachments from his corporate account to a personal external hard drive before quitting and going to work for L2 Partners, which reportedly went on an $80 million real estate buying spree based …

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