Opinion ID: 759153
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Proposed Adjudication & Defense Exceptions

Text: 37 The district court also found that O'Malley enjoyed a privilege to disclose the contents of the communications to his attorneys at Weston, Hurd to assist in the defense of the wiretap claims in Master and Weinkammer. Keeping in mind that Nix alleges three different violations of Ohio's wiretap law (one disclosure by O'Malley to Weston, Hurd to prepare his defense; one use by Weston, Hurd to prepare the defense; and one disclosure by both defendants in the motions for summary judgment in Master and Weinkammer ), we now consider the legitimacy and boundaries of unwritten privileges in Title III and Ohio's wiretap law. 38 Ohio and federal wiretap law explicitly permit disclosures in certain instances (pursuant to valid warrants, for example), but their plain language allows no further exceptions. See Fultz v. Gilliam, 942 F.2d 396, 402 (6th Cir.1991) (explaining that Title III forbids that which it does not expressly allow). While this circuit has recognized unwritten exceptions to Title III, it has drawn them very narrowly. For example, despite the language of Title III, we have permitted the use of illegally obtained wiretap evidence for impeachment, but we have limited this to use by the government in criminal cases. See United States v. Wuliger, 981 F.2d 1497, 1506 (6th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1191, 114 S.Ct. 1293, 127 L.Ed.2d 647 (1994); see also United States v. Murdock, 63 F.3d 1391, 1400 (6th Cir.1995) (refusing to expand Title III's extension telephone exemption to cover interception by former spouse), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1187, 116 S.Ct. 1672, 134 L.Ed.2d 776 (1996); Fultz, 942 F.2d at 400-02 (rejecting an implied single publication limit to Title III, finding actionable each disclosure to a different third party). Murdock 's other holding, recognizing a clean hands exception that permits the government to use the contents of illegal interceptions if it played no role in the interception, has been the target of a vigorous dissent in a case that relied on Murdock, but which has since been vacated. See Doe v. SEC, 86 F.3d 589, Nos. 95-5862, 95-6625, 1996 WL 327558, at  10-11 (6th Cir.) (Merritt, C.J., dissenting), vacated and withdrawn, 86 F.3d 599 (6th Cir.1996); see also Smith v. SEC, 129 F.3d 356 (6th Cir.1997) (en banc) (vacating district court injunction without discussing Murdock ). 39 The protection of privacy--one of the purposes of Title III and Ohio's law--requires strict controls on the repetition of the contents of illegally intercepted communications. See Gelbard v. United States, 408 U.S. 41, 52, 92 S.Ct. 2357, 33 L.Ed.2d 179 (1972); Murdock, 63 F.3d at 1403; Fultz, 942 F.2d at 402 (Each time the illicitly obtained recording is replayed to a new and different listener, the scope of the invasion widens and the aggrieved party's injury is aggravated.); State v. Thomas, Nos. 88 CA 22, 88 CA 29, 1989 WL 74879, at  5 (Ohio Ct.App. June 28, 1989) (unpublished) (The invasion of privacy is not a one time occurrence. Every time the contents of the illegally intercepted conversation are disclosed, the person will suffer a further invasion of privacy.), jurisdictional motion overruled, 46 Ohio St.3d 707, 545 N.E.2d 1280 (Ohio 1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1077, 110 S.Ct. 1129, 107 L.Ed.2d 1035 (1990). Courts must keep this statutory purpose in mind when construing the wiretap laws to permit the republication of illegally acquired information. 40 The district court ruled that O'Malley had a privilege to disclose to Weston, Hurd attorneys what he heard on the taped conversation in an effort to assist in the defense of the claims made against him. We will refer to this implied exception to Ohio and Title III's prohibition on disclosure as the defense exception. This privilege seems a necessary element of wiretap law; as one court has observed, To deny defendants' counsel any possibility of investigating or rebutting the allegations on which [a] claim for punitive damages is based, or of discussing the contents of the tapes with their clients in the course of preparing a defense of [a] lawsuit, would be to convert the allegations of the complaint into a judgment. McQuade v. Michael Gassner Mechanical & Elec. Contractors, Inc., 587 F.Supp. 1183, 1190 (D.Conn.1984). 41 While the district court's opinion refers only to O'Malley's disclosure, we think it self-evident that this privilege extends to use by the defendant and his counsel in the course of preparing a defense against charges of violating state or federal wiretap laws. We hold that, at least here, where a plaintiff filed a complaint alleging violations of wiretap laws, and where the district court denied plaintiff's motion for a protective order foreclosing use of the tapes in the defense, the defendant may disclose to his attorneys the contents of intercepted communications, and the defendant and attorneys may use the contents to prepare a defense to the wiretap charges. The defendant and his attorneys must use the contents in confidence, and disclosure to third parties, or use for purposes other than to prepare a defense against the wiretap charges, exceeds the bounds of the privilege. Given the narrowness of the privilege, both plaintiffs and defendants have an incentive to seek protective orders defining the permissible boundary of a defendant's use in each case. 42 While this privilege insulates O'Malley's disclosure to Weston, Hurd, and Weston, Hurd's subsequent internal use of the contents of the communication to prepare O'Malley's defense, it does not protect the defendants' disclosure of certain contents of the intercepted communications in the two motions for summary judgment, which became part of the public record when filed. The defense exception does not permit any public disclosure, thus requiring parties initially to file revelatory motions in camera, and does not justify use or disclosure for purposes that do not materially advance a party's defense to wiretap charges. The First Circuit has recognized an implied adjudication exception that permits disclosure of intercepted material to a court for admissibility determinations and to a court or jury for a resolution of illegality. See Williams v. Poulos, 11 F.3d 271, 286 (1st Cir.1993). An adjudication exception complements the defense exception, because a defendant's attorneys must have knowledge of the contents of communications to promote their client's interest when the court rules on the admissibility of evidence related to the interception. See ibid. 43 Even if this case implicates the adjudication exception, neither an implied adjudication exception nor the defense exception justifies the public disclosure that occurred in the summary judgment motions filed by O'Malley and Weston, Hurd. Those motions occurred in a public filing. Further, they did not materially advance O'Malley's defense. (We note that, even if the disclosure would have aided O'Malley's defense, nothing prevented him from submitting the affidavit to the court in camera before making a public filing.) Because O'Malley countered the wiretap charges in Master and Weinkammer by denying any involvement in a wiretap conspiracy, the contents of the intercepted communications had minimal relevance to his motion for summary judgment. 6 The republication of the contents of the communication violated the plain language of Title III and Ohio's wiretap law, infringing on Nix's privacy interests as recognized by Congress and the Ohio legislature. This near-gratuitous disclosure, even if inadvertent, exceeds the scope of any implied exception to Title III and Ohio's law. Whatever the outer bounds of the adjudication and defense exceptions, they do not permit the public disclosure of the contents of an illegally intercepted communication where an in camera or sealed disclosure will not materially harm a party's defense.