Plaintiff’s attempt to gin up a state-law negligence claim based on this alleged conduct ran straight into a quirk of Kentucky law that we’ve blogged aboutbefore: Kentucky, by statute, prohibits negligence per se claims based on violations of federal law. The Kentucky Supreme Court’s holding in T & M Jewelry, Inc. v. Hicks ex rel. Hicks, 189 S.W.3d 526, 530 (Ky. 2006) offers binding and unequivocal precedent concerning the scope of KRS 446.070 and demonstrates that [plaintiff] does not have a state based right to sue for negligence in this matter. * * * * Under Kentucky law and the Kentucky Supreme Court’s analysis of KRS 446.070, which codifies the doctrine of negligence per se, ... the statute “did not intend for KRS 446.070 to … confer a private civil remedy for” violations of federal law.Moore, 2017 WL 4365162, at *7-8.

Does it logically follow that third parties have a cause of action for damages if private information is wrongfully disclosed without their knowledge or consent? KRS 446.070 provides that “[a] person injured by the violation of any statute may recover from the offender such damages as he sustained by reason of the violation, although a penalty or forfeiture is imposed for such violation.” This statute provides a civil cause of action for persons who suffer damages as the result of the violation of a statute, provided that they are a member of the class of persons intended to be protected.

Civil Liability for Violation of Criminal StatutesUnder Kentucky law, “[a] person injured by the violation of any statute may recover from the offender such damages as he sustained by reason of the violation.” Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 446.070 (Michie 2004). See alsoBig Rivers Elec. Corp. v. Thorpe, 921 F.Supp. 460, 462 (W.D. Ky. 1996).