New CA Evidence Case
Evidence
The California Penal Code prohibits recording a telephone conversation without the consent of the persons on the call. Last month, the First District Court of Appeal published a new case addressing whether a recorded telephone conversation that was not consented to can be used to impeach a witness. A video discussing the case is above and my summary of the case is below.
New Evidence Decision
Quintero v. Weinkauf (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 998964: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's evidentiary rulings and the judgment for plaintiff awarding her $1.3 million in compensatory damages, $6,000 in punitive damages, $850,000 in attorney fees, and $60,000 in costs. Plaintiff's action alleged the tort of stalking, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and the tort of domestic violence. The trial court properly admitted, in part, a telephone recording that defendant did not consent to, for the limited purpose of impeachment as allowed under Penal Code section 632. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining there was sufficient foundation to authenticate video clips shown to the jury. Although the trial court may have erred in allowing a police officer to provide hearsay testimony regarding a red jeep allegedly owned by defendant, the Court of Appeal concluded that any such error was harmless. The Court of Appeal found there was no instructional error by the trial court. (C.A. 1st, filed on March 3, 2022, partially published on April 4, 2022.)
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Until my next blog post, stay safe and healthy.
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California Case Summaries™
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