Privacy Policy

The Law Offices of Melissa K. Dagodag (“TLOMD”) is a law firm based in the United States. We are a sole proprietorship for the practice of law. Our office is located at 468 N. Camden Drive, Suite 200, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

This Privacy Policy applies to information that we collect online through our website as well as other methods of collection, for example,  information you share with us verbally, in writing, in email messages to us, or our employees, or to information obtained during the course of representing a client. Information we obtain from visits to our website is the personal information that visitors provide us, as well as technical information that we collect through the use of technology relating to such visits.

Visitors to our website have the opportunity to sign up to receive newsletters and marketing materials. From our website, we will collect any information that you voluntarily provide us such as your name, email address, telephone, mobile numbers; your company or firm name; and other business contact information. We will also collect other types of information you might provide such as preferences as to the types of information—such as notice of events or publications that you would like to receive. If you are a resident of the State of California please see the section entitled “California Visitors” below for additional information concerning personal information under the California Consumer Privacy Act.

You are under no obligation to provide us with your personal information when visiting our website. Whether you provide any personal information is entirely voluntary and is solely within your discretion. We may not be able to provide you with any services or information you request, however, if you decide not to provide us with some or all of the personal information requested by our website. You can withdraw your consent to our possession or processing of any of the personal information you provide us, at any time. To do so, you can either send an email with “PRIVACY” in the subject line to: melissakdagodag.com or contact our Melissa Dagodag as set forth hereinbelow.

Technical Information:

We collect certain types of technical information provided by the browser of the computer or other device used when visiting our website, such as:

Usage Details, IP Addresses and Browser Type:

When you visit our website, we collect technical information such as your internet protocol (IP) address, your computer or device’s operating system and browser type, geo-location data, and the pages of our website that you visit. Most browsers transmit this type of information to websites automatically. We will anonymize your IP address. We collect this information to administer and manage our website, to ensure that it functions properly, and to review aggregate information.

Cookies:

Our website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are downloaded to the browser of a computer, tablet or smartphone used to visit a website. A cookie will identify your browser, help you log in and improve the navigation of a website. We use cookies to help us improve the performance of our website. Cookies allow us to review the number of visitors to our website and understand a visitor’s usage; track performance indicators such as pages visited, downloads, frequency of visits, and other statistical information; recognize visitors if they return to our website; store information about visitors’ past visits; and remember visitors’ preferences. You may be able to disable or block cookies by modifying the settings in your browser. To learn you can go to: https://www.allaboutcookies.org/. If you choose to reject cookies, this may impair the use of our website, or you may be unable to access certain parts of our website.

How we Use Information:

We may process the information you provide and that we collect via our website to:

• To fulfill or meet the reasons you provided us the information, including to process your requests, transactions or payments and to prevent transaction fraud.
• To respond to your inquires, process your requests concerning your personal information in our possession, to investigate and address your concerns and to monitor and improve our responses.
• To help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our website, products, services, databases, networks, and other technical assets and business.
• To deliver any requested products or services, or provide you with customer support.
• To improve or modify our website; update and maintain client, subscription and/or email list and for other purposes of ours.
• To respond to requests for information, respond to requests for proposals, or provide information about legal services you request and to respond to legal requests for information through court orders, subpoenas, warrants and other of legal obligations.
• To protect the operations of our law firm, or the safety, security and privacy of our firm, our lawyers and staff, our clients, and/or third parties.
• To enforce our website’s Terms of Use or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

We will not share or sell your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

We will not use your personal data for making any automated decisions affecting you or your legal rights or for creating profiles other than as described above.

Limited Information Sharing

We may share the information you provide us on a confidential basis with contractors, vendors or service providers that support our firm’s operations and our website, but only for those purposes, and to comply with a subpoena or court order, legal process or other legal requirement, or when we that such disclosure is required for legal compliance, to prevent imminent physical harm or material financial loss; to investigate, or prevent or take action concerning, illegal activities, suspected fraud or threats to our firm, any of its lawyers or our property; or as necessary in connection with an investigation of intellectual property infringement, piracy, fraud and/ or other unlawful activity.

Links to Social Media and Third-Party Websites

Our website may include links to blogs, social media and other third-party websites. These third-party sites have their own privacy policies and terms of use and are not controlled by this Privacy Policy or the terms of our website’s disclaimer. Please review any terms, conditions and policies of such third-party sites before visiting them or supplying them with any personal information. TLOMD is not responsible for the privacy or security of any information you provide to a third-party website or the information practices used by any third-party website. We make no express or implied representations concerning the accuracy, privacy, safety, security or the information practices of any third-party site. TLOMD is not responsible for any loss or damage you may sustain resulting from your use of any third-party website or any information you share with such third-party website. The inclusion of a link to a third-party site on our website does not constitute an endorsement by TLOMD.

Updating, etc. Personal Information

It is important that the personal information we obtain from you is accurate. If any of the personal information you provide us changes, or you want to correct it or change it, please let us know by emailing us with “Information Change” in the subject line of such email at melissa@melissakdagodag.com. We are not responsible for any losses that could arise from any inaccurate, deficient or incomplete personal information that you provide to the TLOMD.

For security reasons, we may need to request specific information from you to help us verify your identity before we correct, update and/or change any personal information about you.

Updating, etc. Information Security

We have executed technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information from inadvertent or unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration or destruction. Nonetheless, no method of data storage is guaranteed to be completely secure. You use our website and provide any personal information you choose to provide one hundred percent at your own risk.

Individual Rights

TLOMD position offers certain rights to all individuals, regardless of statue requiring such offer. The rights that TLOMD offers to all individuals are:

• Right of Disclosure/To be Informed/To Data Portability
• Right to Deletion/Erasure

Right to Disclosure/To Be Informed/To Data Portability

You have the right to discover what personal information TLOMD has collected about you and to receive a free copy of your personal data, as it does not negative impact on the rights of others. We may charge an administrative fee based on costs for numerous requests. The right of access includes the right to request that we update, correct or complete your personal information that we have. TLOMD may provide the information you have requested in electronic format.

Right to Deletion/Erasure

You have a right to request that your personal data be deleted or erased when it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected or processed, when you withdraw your consent, when data is unlawfully processed, to comply with a legal obligation, or when you object to the processing and we are unable to demonstrate compelling, legitimate grounds for the processing that overrides your rights, freedoms or interests. Personal data does not have to be erased when and to the extent it is necessary “for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.”

California Visitors to Site

In addition to the rights set forth above in this Privacy Policy, if you are an individual who is also a California resident, you are afforded rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which allows you to make certain requests about your personal information in our possession, including:

• To provide access to and/or a copy of certain personal information we hold about you.
• To inform you about the categories of personal information we collect or disclose about you; the categories of sources of such information; the business or commercial purpose for collecting such personal information; and the categories of third parties with whom we share your personal information.
• To delete certain personal information we have about you.
• To provide you with information about the financial incentives that we offer to you, if any.

Further, the CCPA further provides you with the right to not be discriminated against for exercising your rights. There are some requests TLOMD is not required to comply with, such as a request to delete personal information if the information is necessary for TLOMD to:

• Satisfy a legal obligation.
• Finish the transaction for which the information was collected, provide a good or service you requested, perform a contract with you, to fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, or take actions reasonably anticipated in the context of our ongoing business relationship with you.
• Debug products, services or applications to identify and repair errors that impair existing functionality.
• Detect security incidents, protect against deceptive, fraudulent, malicious, or illegal activity, or to prosecute those responsible for that activity.
• Exercise free speech, to ensure the rights of others to exercise their free speech rights, or to exercise another right provided by law.
• Comply with Cal. Penal Code §1546  seq. (“CCPA”).
• Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based upon your relationship with TLOMD.
• Make other Internal and lawful uses of the information that are compatible with the context in which you provided the information.

Furthermore, we are not obligated under the CCPA to respond to any request where compliance or disclosure would violate an evidentiary privilege under California law, or conflict with federal or state law. The CCPA does not require that we provide personal information to a consumer more than twice in a 12-month period.  Any disclosures we make will only cover the twelve (12) month period preceding such request.

Before we respond to any request involving personal information, the CCPA requires that we confirm the identity of the person making the request, and if the request is made on behalf of another person, his or her authority to make the request on the other person’s behalf.  We are not obligated to provide or to delete any information pursuant to your request if we are unable to adequately verify your identity or the identity of the person making the request on your behalf.  Accordingly, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before responding to a request, which may include, at a minimum, depending on the sensitivity of the information you are requesting and the type of request you are making, verifying your name, email address, and other account information. If we cannot verify your identity, we will not be able to respond to or take action upon such request.

You are also permitted to designate an authorized agent to submit certain requests on your behalf. In order for an authorized agent to be verified, you must provide the authorized agent with signed, written permission to make such requests or with a formal power of attorney.

If there is a discrepancy between any of the other provisions of this Privacy Policy and the requirements of the CCPA involving an individual who is a California resident, the CCPA shall govern our obligations and responses.

In addition, the California Civil Code permits California residents with whom we have an established business relationship to request that we provide you with a list of certain categories of personal information that we have disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. To make such a request, please contact our Privacy Officer as explained at the end of this Privacy Policy and mention that you are making a “California Shine the Light” inquiry.

Non-U.S. Site Visitors

If you are visiting our website from outside the United States, any information you voluntarily provide via our website and any technical information from the browser of your computer, or other device will be transferred out of your country and into the U.S., where our law firm is located. The laws and protections available to the privacy of your personal information in the U.S. may significantly differ from the protections available in your country. Personal data transferred to the U.S. may be subject to lawful access requests by state and federal authorities in the U.S. If you do not want any personal information to be transferred to the U.S., please do not provide such information to TLOMD via our website.

Visitors From the European Union

On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) went into effect in the European Union (“EU”). The GDPR extends to natural persons certain rights involving the privacy of their personal information. TLOMD is the data controller for any personal information provided via our website. Our firm does not have a data protection officer in the EU. Any information that you provide us will be stored in the United States. We do not intend to transfer your personal data to another country or international organization.

We will retain any personal information that you provide via our website for seven (7) years from the date you provided or last updated that information, unless you request that information be deleted at an earlier date. If that information is subject to a litigation hold, or is required to assert or defend a legal claim, we will hold that information until the claim or action is finally resolved.

Under the GDPR, individuals are granted the following rights:

• Right of Access.  You have the right to ask what personal information we have about you in our possession. You have the right to obtain a copy of your personal data free of charge so long as it does not adversely affect the rights of others. We may charge a reasonable fee based on administrative costs for additional copies. The right of access includes the right to request that we update, correct or complete your personal information in our possession.
• Right of Erasure.  You have a right to request that data be deleted or erased when it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected or processed, when you withdraw your consent, when data is unlawfully processed, to comply with a legal obligation of the EU or a Member State, or when you object to the processing and we are unable to demonstrate compelling, legitimate grounds for the processing that overrides your rights, freedoms or interests. Personal data does not have to be erased when and to the extent it is necessary “for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.”
• Right to Restrict Processing.  You have a right to restrict the processing of your personal data when you contest the accuracy of the personal data in our possession, until we are able to verify its accuracy, if the processing is unlawful and you oppose its erasure and request restriction instead.
• Right to Data Portability.  The right to data portability is triggered when processing activity was based on your consent or was necessary for the performance of a contract, and the processing was carried out by automated means. This right, however, shall not adversely affect the rights of others.
• Automated Decision-Making.  You have the right to not be subjected to decision-making based solely on automated processing or profiling that either significantly affects you or results in some sort of legal effect. This right does not apply to decisions that are necessary for entering into or performing a contract with you or are based on your explicit consent.
• Right to Object to Processing.  You have the right to object to processing when it is based on a “legitimate interest” of the controller or a third party, or to processing that occurs for direct marketing purposes.
• Withdrawing Your Consent.  You can adjust your cookie settings at any time from our cookie consent manager or by contacting our firm’s Privacy Officer as explained at the end of this Privacy Policy.
• Right to Complain.  You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority about our data privacy practices where you reside.

Exercising These Rights

You can exercise any of the rights in this Privacy Policy by contacting our Privacy Officer as set forth herein below. We reserve the right to refuse to act on a request, or to charge a reasonable administrative fee when a request is unfounded or excessive due to its redundancy.

Notice to Minors

Our firm’s website is not directed at and is not intended to be visited by minors. No visitor to our website who is a minor or under the age of 18 should provide any personal information to our firm. If you are a minor, do not visit our website and do not send any personal information about yourself via our website.

Privacy Policy Updates

Nothing contained in this Privacy Policy, or in our website or our Website’s disclaimer, is intended to provide legal advice, or to create a contractual or attorney-client relationship. You expressly agree that visiting our website or providing information to our website does not create a contractual or attorney-client relationship.

How to Contact Us

We welcome your views about our website and our Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, would like to exercise any of your rights, or would like to share any comments with us, please contact our Privacy Officer via email at melissa@melissakdagodag.com, putting “Privacy Information” in the subject line. You can also send a letter to Privacy Officer, Melissa K. Dagodag, The Law Offices of Melissa K. Dagodag, 468 N. Camden Drive, Suite 200, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 or call us at 310-699-8155. You may also submit an online request for information or an online request for deletion to melissa@melissakdagodag.com and put “Request for Information or Deletion” in the subject line.

No Legal Advice or Attorney-Client Relationship Intended

This Privacy Policy was last updated in November of 2024. We will update our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and disclaimer from time to time. Please periodically check our Privacy Policy and our website’s disclaimer to learn of any changes to our Privacy Policy and disclaimer. This Privacy Policy supersedes all prior versions governing our website.