Recently in Telephone Surveillance Category

Dr Paul Minotty, the founder- director of the Florida Eye Institute at Vero Beach, Florida, who is battling a civil case against him initiated by three of his doctor partners, suffered a setback recently when he was asked to pay higher damages.  By awarding $2.9 million in punishment to Minotty’s partners as a punishment to him for installing secret microphones in their offices, the jury was adding to their earlier decision to award his partners $6.8 million in damages for his alleged interception of their communications as well as for financially misleading them.
Thomas Baudo, Karen Todd and John Zudans are involved in a lawsuit with Minotty over the ownership of the Florida Eye Institute and their victory in this case will be instrumental in deciding the outcome of their request to convert the management of the institute into a business receivership.

The jury's decision comes after more than a month's deliberation over the civil trial that began on 22 September. The partners' original claim was for $16.1 million in damages of which $10.1 million was to be paid to the professional association that runs the institute and $6 million would be paid for the alleged invasion of privacy of the three doctors. The partners' attorney, Lois Rosenbaum, contended that Minotty had surveillance equipment illegally installed in their offices after they took legal action against him. He further claimed that Minotty had taken advantage of the partners in several institute business dealings.   

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on behalf of author Studs Terkel and other activists against the NSA program of collecting phone-company records has been dismissed.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said that "The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities."

A number of such lawsuits have been filed around the country against AT&T and other phone companies for having provided users' records to the National Security Administration.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco had ruled that media reports of the program were so widespread there was no danger of spilling secrets.

But Judge Kennelly said the news reports amounted to speculation and in no way constituted official confirmation that phone records had been turned over.

He also said Terkel and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which sought class-action status, had not shown that their records had been provided to the government. As a result, they lacked standing to sue the government, he said.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against six phone companies who allegedly allowed the National Security Agency to access their phone and internet records.

The plaintiffs are four West Michigan phone customers who have brought the suit against phone companies and internet providers AT&T, Cellular One, Charter Communication, MCI, Transworld Network and Verizon Wireless.

Christopher and Rebecca Yowtz of Coopersville, Ryan Halbower of Traverse City and Joan DuBois of West Olive are among the many people who have filed a dozen class action lawsuits against the phone companies. These four residents represent all Michigan phone customers.

Their attorney, Russell Sipes of the law firm George & Sipes, said that the violation is of both state and federal statutes.

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Author Studs Terkel and other professionals, including a doctor and a lawmaker, have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop  AT&T from giving customer phone records to the National Security Agency without a court order.

The plaintiffs said that their work depended on confidentiality and their clients would be less likely to phone them if they think the government collects lists of the numbers they are calling. AT&T has said that it is obliged to assist government agencies responsible for protecting the public, as allowed within the law.

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The United States government has filed a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF had sued AT&T for handing over  telephone and internet records of customers to the National Security Agency.  The government said that its legal briefs and affidavits are classified,  preventing even the parties to the lawsuit, EFF and AT&T, from seeing them.

A redacted version of the brief that was made public said that the case against AT&T should be immediately terminated as a judicial enquiry may reveal state secrets and harm national security.

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Two New Jersey lawyers have filed a lawsuit on behalf of all Verizon subscribers, contending that the phone records collection violates the Constitutional right to privacy and federal law. The government reportedly collects information every time a call is made on a Verizon phone line. Plaintiff Carl Mayer said. "You can't turn over the records of your customers and if you do so it's $1,000 per violation. The Constitution is very clear."

At $1,000 for each of Verizon's 50 million customers, the company and government could be made to pay $50 billion dollars in a class action suit, Mayer said. The lawsuit is asking a federal court to order President Bush, the National Security Agency and Verizon to end a secret snooping program.

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