Attorney’s Use of Recordings Violated Wiretap Law (Correct)

A lawyer’s use of his client’s wiretapped recordings during an acrimonious custody battle was not protected by the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, the Ninth Circuit said Tuesday in a reversal of the lower court.

John Jones was free to exercise petitioning rights through filing and arguing motions, but “he was not free to support that motion with illegal evidence,” Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr., sitting by designation from the Second Circuit, wrote.

The court said “the legislative history of the Wiretap Act makes clear that Congress intended it to apply to domestic relations disputes” and Jones violated the law.

Lyudmyla Pyankovska sued ...