Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
I need to get confidential information on phone calls placed by a neighbor who is harassing me. I understand that police calls are confidential but numerous calls for the same offense without the officers finding any reason to pursue and not filing any report is very annoying.
How can I get the information beyond the cad purge if I have no pending court case? I have the dates so I do not need a "calls for service" list. I have been told to "go before a judge" to ask for a subpeona but how do I do that? What court do I go to? I know this information is obtainable through some kind of court order but how do I get that?
3 Answers from Attorneys
You would need to file a lawsuit against the neighbor and subpoena the records from the police. You might not win the lawsuit, since California case law usually regards calls to the police as legally privileged. See Civil Code � 47(b). Maybe the court would make an exception for repetitive and harassing calls. While the lawsuit is pending you would have the right to subpoena the records.
Mr. Stone is correct. You cannot obtain a court order for documents unless there is a case pending.
Neither of the two responses are entirely correct. Normally, a pending action is required to conduct discovery, and issue subpoenas for information from third parties.
There are special procedures, however, for the perpetuation of testimony or other evidence prior to filing suit. You are correct that they require a court order. The procedures are set forth in Code of Civil Procedure section 2035.010, and the sections that follow.
You can access those sections here: http://law.onecle.com/california/civil-procedure/2035.010.html
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