Legal Question in Administrative Law in California
I (along with seven others) were taped with a hidden recording device during a meeting. We are volunteers with the Sheriff's Search and Rescue unit. We filed criminal charges against this person who I have had to file a couple formal internal complaints against regarding his actions and attitude a couple years ago and have been harrassed for it ever since the day they were filed (those complaints were never acted upon or investigated). The DA's Office (who works closely with the Sheriff's Office and the person the charges were filed against, who is a full time county employee) states that we should have known that the meeting was recorded (even though these meetings have never been recorded in the past during the last 7 years in which I have been one of the most active members). They also stated that we had no expectation to privacy even though it was a meeting with only a small group of people required to attend (no one else was invited, required to attend or even knew about the meeting). The meeting took place in our unit's headquarters which is not open to the public, has locked doors and again, only a limited number of specific team individuals were notified of the meeting. We even requested our Sheriff Liason to attend this meeting as we knew it was going to be an attack against us but he refused to attend stating that he did not have time to deal with things like this. During this meeting, I was being told that I had broken the units jet boat (a brass nut broke at the jet nozzle) which was not due to my actions as I was the instructor of the course and was also being defended by all the others in the meeting as witnesses stating to this person that the meeting was nothing but a which-hunt.
After the meeting, I was suspended for four months and terminated from the unit for refusing to sign a form stating that I had either crashed the boat or intentionally broke the boat which this person was accusing me of even though I had all the people there as witnesses. This person and the actions he has taken (primarily recording a meeting with a hidden device and his God-like attitude) has torn this team apart. We are in CA and according to the penal code, it is expressly written that all parties must be notified of any recording in progress. None of us were notified nor was there a recorder visible. I also did not see anything about the expectation of privacy. I have not found any occurrances that are closely similar to this event (meeting with multiple people or the type of meeting place) but I have found many cases in which the expectation of privacy has been established in far less secure or private environments such as restaurants and parks.
In this situation, should I and the others involved have expected and even predicted that the meeting would be recorded, did we have any expectation of privacy, how can the DA's office claim that this instance of a hidden recording device be deemed legal and do we have any recourse? There is a civil penalty for this. Do we file in small claims court for this or does it need to be done through an attorney? I believe this is also a violation of not only state civil rights but Federal civil rights as well. Also, according to the Penal Code, an illegal recording cannot be used in an administrative action (such as termination) as this recording was used for such purposes to terminate two of us at that meeting. The Sheriff's Dept. has refused to provide any of the victims with a copy of the police report or recording stating that we are no longer listed as victims but are now listed as involved parties and the DA's office refuses to comment on the case. I hate to use the term cover-up but that is exactly what it is all turning in to.
Also, we have a policy and procedures manual which outlines disciplinary procedure and there is not a single P&P in the manual that was actually followed in this case. I am a retired police officer, have an excellent reputation, have never had a verbal or written complaint against me in this unit and have the backing of most of the unit members. The person who has done this is a unit executive, has a vast amount of complaints over the years, is despised by much of the unit and is directly responsible for numerous members quitting but is deemed by the Sheriff's Department as being extremely valuable so they will not do anything to stop him. Can someone please help. Unfortunately, I do not have the money to hire an attorney. Also, all the local attorneys that I have talked to say they can't take the case as they will not go against the Sheriff's Dept. and that I definitely have a case but I need to find an attorney out of the area. Please help. I have devoted a significant portion of my life to helping the people of this county and because of a few people running things, they have turned a once happy and effective team into a group that it's members no longer want to be involved in.
2 Answers from Attorneys
I am sorry for what happened to you. Having been a deputy city attorney in Oakland, I am not too surprised at what has occurred. Your mater is a rather complicated case and I do not think you will find someone on this site willing to take it on without knowing that you can collect substantial damage so that they can justify being retained on a percentage fee arrangement. None of you have a wage loss claim so your damages are really statutory penalties and damage to your reputation, the latter being very difficult to give a dollar figure to. You may want to contact some civil rights attorneys to see if they are interested.
I assume that the meeting was called by a supervisor to charge you with improper conduct. If it was set up as an adverse meeting, then you had no expectation of privacy, because you knew what was said could be made public to others. But you did have a right to assume that the meeting was not being taped as that would result in your perhaps making statements against your own self interest with your accuser not having to make any statements but just question you. It is somewhat similar to a police officer questioning a suspect and taping him without revealing that.
The DA comment about your not having a right to the tape makes no sense. A victim would not have a right to the tape but a suspect would. You probably are protected under the Skelley doctrine as to discipline against public employees and those rights may have been violated in your termination.
You can sue in Small Claims court for up to $7,500 in damages but not any non-monetary rights, such as reinstatement. I could help to some extent but would have to charge my normal rate of $100 per hour [I could delay some part of the payment in hope that you make a recovery].
Mr. Shers has done a fine job in analyzing and responding. My only comment would be that the issues may be beyond the comprehension of a small-claims judge -- nothing against the Butte County Superior Court, but these are unusual issues. My first reaction was that you might want to consider "administrative mandamus" procedures or even contact the office of the attorney general.
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