Is Dumpster Diving Legal?

Is Dumpster Diving Legal? Many people say yes--so long as the garbage is abandoned.

However, I am not so sure that I would trust a legal opinion that dumpster diving is legal. And even if it is, it may still get you in a lot of trouble. I recently obtained a $2.35 million dollar judgment in a jury trial on behalf of a client who learned that one of its competitors was digging through its trash and taking valuable business documents.

What is Dumpster Diving?

According to http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/dumpster.htm, "Dumpster Divers are people who search for things that other people have thrown out that are still useful, can be recycled, and have value. Dumpster Divers will not only pick up discarded items left at the curbside of people's homes, but they will climb into dumpsters at apartment buildings and behind shopping centers."

The United States Supreme Court has ruled, in criminal cases, that the police can dig through garbage since it is abandoned. Thus, some would argue, that this same logic arguably permits a competitor, ex-spouse, or other, to do the same thing.

So how did I obtain a multi-million dollar judgment in a dumpster diving lawsuit? Our discovery revealed that the defendant used the information from the garbage to carry out other misconduct. Think about it--if someone is willing to dig in your trash, they are probably doing other bad things.

In the case we recently handled, we uncovered during discovery that the defendant had used the information it learned from the garbage to send out defamatory letters and bribe buyers of retail stores. About half way through the case we amended our lawsuit and added counts for unfair competition, defamation, commercial bribery and tortious interference. The jury found in our client’s favor on all counts in the case and awarded $2.35 million in compensatory and punitive damages.


David Fish
dfish@collinslaw.com

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