Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Electronic Voice Recording
Is it admissible to use electronic voice recorder as evidence during a phone conversation between opposing counsel�s paralegal and the plaintiff in a civil proceedings? If the recording is admissible for trial the call was from Arizona to California.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Electronic Voice Recording
Voice recordings of phone calls are nearly always inadmissible, Opposing counsel's office personnel should not be talking directly to plaintiff, any contact must go through plaintiff's attorney.
Re: Electronic Voice Recording
That the recording is digital doesn't matter. What matters is whether you had the consent of the other party to make the recording in the first place. If you didn't, then the recording will not be admissible.
Note that in California recording a telephone conversation without the consent of all parties is generally a crime. The recording would be admissible in a prosecution for making it, but that is the only context in which a court would consider it.
Re: Electronic Voice Recording
You commit a felony if you don't properly advise the other parties that you are recording and obtain consent.
No, it is not admissible, regardless.