Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
I would like to know the legality of using messages voluntarily left on a home answering machine in civil litigation. The situation is that we are receiving a number of harrassing telephone calls in connection with a family Property Partnership in which my wife is one of the General Partners. Two of the Limited Partners have taken over the property without authorization, and the General Partners have retained an attorney. My question is, does the fact of the caller's having voluntarily "left a message at the sound of the beep" comprise consent to be recorded? It would seem so: the caller assumed the answering machine had a recording function, and responded positively when given access to that recording function. Second part of the question: may we then give this recorded message to the General Partnership's attorney for use in litigation? All parties are in Northern California. Thank you.
4 Answers from Attorneys
As your wife already have an attorney representing her, this question should be addressed to that attorney.
Nothing contained in this communication is intended to be, or shall be deemed as, legal advice, counsel, or services to on or behalf of any person or any entity. Usage of the LawGuru website is not intended to and shall not create any obligation or relationship between the user and the Law Office of Herb Fox, including but not limited to, an attorney-client relationship. The Law Office of Herb Fox does not and cannot warrant that any communication between the user of this Web site and the Law Office of Herb Fox shall remain confidential. Finally, your situation may be governed by deadlines that may or may not have already lapsed, and you may lose your rights if you do or did not act within those deadlines.
Absolutely. No one in this day and age is going to convince a judge that they are such a luddite that they did not know they were intentionally making a recording of what they said. Consult with counsel about chain of custody and authentication of evidence issues, though, to make sure you preserve its admissibility under general rules of evidence.
California law generally prohibits secret recording of conversations, but if a person knows they are being recorded the law is not being violated. When someone leaves a message on an answering machine they are doing so for the express purpose of recording it. Based on the facts that you provided in your questions, it seems that you should be able to use the recording in the California litigation, but do consult an attorney and disclose all relevant facts to him or her to get a more complete evaluation of the situation.
Leaving a message on an answering machine is consent to being recorded. You can also produce the recordings for a third party's litigation.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
