Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Invasion of Privacy tort
I learned 6 months ago (she admitted in talking)my roomate had been secretly video recording our conversations, the video contained audio too. This is in violation of PC632(a) but some legal experts have said only recorded conversations by telephone, will qualify as a violation. More recently I came into possession of the actual VCR tape and are researching common law invsasion of privacy torts. Because she was my roomate and the recordings were made in our home, how can I prove this is constructive invasion? What is the limitation of action for a violation of PC632(a)? In PC637.2 must I seek an injuction first to qualify for the $5000 per incident damages or can file for a violation of 632(a) alone by itself?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Invasion of Privacy tort
Your roommate must show the videotape to a third person in order to violate your privacy and it must be done without your consent. You should give her a written statement that she must cease and desist taping your and then, if she continues, you might have a lawsuit. The statute of limitations for a tort of this nature is one year.
Re: Invasion of Privacy tort
You are right that this is a violation of PC 632(a) but you have misunderstood the statute. First off, the $5,000 amount per incident you mention is from a different statute and covers a different violation. The applicable figure for 632(a) violations is $2,500. More to the point, this amount is a fine which is payable to the government as a criminal penalty. It is not an amount you are entitled to collect. This is generally how criminal laws work. A typical criminal statute sets forth criminal penalties and says nothing about civil liability, though there may be another statute which does so. This is one reason why individual citizens cannot base lawsuits on most criminal statutes.
Ms. Montgomery is correct that merely making these tapes does not violate your privacy. If you and your roommate were together when you had these conversations then there is nothing on the tape which you have not already shared with him/her. Your privacy is only invaded when someone learns private information which you did not want disclosed to them. If your roommate has been showing the tapes to others you might have a case, but the amount of damages would be measured by the actual harm (including emotional distress and damage to reputation) it caused to you and not by a set formula. If these tapes just show day-to-day conversations then you would be able to recover only a nominal amount.
Even if you had a strong case, there would still be the issue of how much you could actually collect. Do you think your roommate has gobs of money from which to pay you -- even after he/she pays a lawyer? Most people who have that kind of money don't need roommates.
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