Uber and similar tracking records are being found more frequently in divorce matters in some select locations but New Yorkers may have a lot less to worry about when it comes to taking an Uber ride to visit a lover. That s because New York has a no-fault divorce law, and judges aren t going to spend a lot of time on it in courtrooms, Steven Mandel, a veteran New York divorce attorney, told Legaltech News.
Mandel, who has also been co-chairman of the matrimonial section of the New York County Bar Association, said that if a New York judge is presented with such evidence, she or he simply might tell an attorney, Move on. Get to the heart of the matter.
Based on his experience, Mandel said New Yorkers are using such data not so much to get leverage on divorce action, but to confirm or to convince themselves that a spouse is being unfaithful.
There s an emotional component to it, he explained. It will vindicate them.
But that doesn t mean that the data will have much impact in court. When it comes to the distribution of assets, Mandel said that tracking data won t make much of a difference. Further, using such data may even lessen the chances for parties to settle.
However, there are times when social media does come up in divorce matters, and such information can help to track someone or confirm suspicions.
For instance, John Slowiaczek, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, said, I find that many times this kind of information is being gathered and used by a spouse who is determining whether or not they should move forward with a divorce. It can often support some long-held suspicions.
Moreover, Slowiaczek said Uber can also provide valuable information for child custody cases, and most people understand what a powerful tracking device their phone can be.
This is because people will often use the service when they are at a bar or a club, and this can provide some key information to the other spouse, especially if there are allegations of substance abuse, he explained.
Divorce attorneys said they first saw such data generated by EZ-Pass. It was followed by data from social media, most notably from Facebook, which Mandel called a boom to the divorce lawyers practice. Often, that relates to someone posting photos or text on Facebook. Other sources of data may be text messages or emails, Mandel said.
"We now have an enormous and increasing segment of the population which allows their movements to be tracked in ways that would have been next to impossible just a few years ago, Seth Weinberg, an attorney at Weinberg Zareh Malkin Price and a lecturer at Columbia Law School, said. "As long as judges and juries find the information stored by these applications to be reliable, they will probably become increasingly useful in resolving disputes and serving as evidence in contested cases.