Court Opinion

ID: 9953413
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-22 05:06:14.887798+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:03:09.821565
License: Public Domain

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to
                 revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

                           STATE OF MICHIGAN

                            COURT OF APPEALS

STEVE MARITAS and UNITED FEDERATION                                  UNPUBLISHED
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS & SECURITY-                                 March 21, 2024
POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION,

               Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v                                                                    No. 365487
                                                                     Macomb Circuit Court
INTERNATIONAL UNIONS, SECURITY POLICE                                LC No. 2022-004762-NZ
AND FIRE PROFESSIONALS OF AMERICA,
DAVID L. HICKEY, and DWAYNE PHILLIPS,

               Defendants-Appellees.

Before: GARRETT, P.J., and RIORDAN and LETICA, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

        Years of contentious litigation and competition between the parties underscores this
eavesdropping action. Plaintiffs, Steve Maritas and United Federation Law Enforcement Officers
& Security-Police Benevolent Association (UFLEOS-PBA), sued defendants, International
Unions, Security Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA), David L. Hickey, and
Dwayne Phillips,1 alleging entitlement to civil remedies under MCL 750.539h for eavesdropping
after defendants posted a photograph of Maritas online. The trial court granted summary
disposition for defendants under MCR 2.116(C)(8), concluding that the posting of the photograph
did not meet the statutory definition of “eavesdropping” because the photograph did not constitute
“private discourse of others.” On appeal, plaintiffs challenge this decision, arguing that defendants
eavesdropped on Maritas because they intended to convey communication by posting his
photograph online. Because the photograph does not record or transmit Maritas’s “private
discourse,” plaintiffs failed to state a claim under MCR 750.539h. Accordingly, we affirm.

1
  Maritas is the organizing director for UFLEOS-PBA, while Hickey and Phillips are the
international president and organizing director, respectively, for SPFPA.

                                                -1-
                                         I. BACKGROUND

        During a 2022 deposition, as part of a separate federal proceeding between the parties,
defendants took a photograph of Maritas without his knowledge or consent. The deposition was
recorded orally, not by video, and occurred in a boardroom belonging to defendants’ counsel.
Defendants published the photograph of Maritas on the Internet and used it in materials sent to
members of defendants’ union. Plaintiffs subsequently filed a complaint against defendants
alleging that defendants violated MCL 750.539d—the criminal statute prohibiting the use of a
device for transmitting, photographing, or eavesdropping in a private place—and requesting civil
remedies under MCL 750.539h.2

         Defendants moved for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(8), arguing that plaintiff
failed to state a claim under MCL 750.539h because the statute only applies to eavesdropping, not
to the taking and distribution of photographs. The trial court found that the photograph of Maritas
did not constitute the “private discourse of others” because it was not a communication of thought
by words. As such, the trial court granted summary disposition in favor of defendants because
plaintiffs failed to state a claim as a matter of law. This appeal followed.

                                       II. EAVESDROPPING

         Plaintiffs contend that taking Maritas’s photograph without his permission and distributing
it violated MCL 750.539d. According to plaintiffs, this violation entitles them to civil remedies
under MCL 750.539h because the photograph amounted to eavesdropping.

                                  A. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

        “A decision on a motion for summary disposition and the interpretation of a statute are
reviewed de novo.” Le Gassick v Univ of Mich Regents, 330 Mich App 487, 494; 948 NW2d 452
(2019). On de novo review, “we give respectful consideration, but no deference” to the trial court’s
legal rulings. Wasik v Auto Club Ins Assoc, 341 Mich App 691, 695; 992 NW2d 332 (2022).

                A motion under MCR 2.116(C)(8) tests the legal sufficiency of a claim
       based on the factual allegations in the complaint. When considering such a motion,
       a trial court must accept all factual allegations as true, deciding the motion on the
       pleadings alone. A motion under MCR 2.116(C)(8) may only be granted when a
       claim is so clearly unenforceable that no factual development could possibly justify
       recovery. [El-Khalil v Oakwood Healthcare, Inc, 504 Mich 152, 159; 934 NW2d
       665 (2019) (cleaned up).]

       Resolution of this appeal turns on the proper interpretation of MCL 750.539h. “The
primary goal of statutory interpretation is to give effect to the intent of the Legislature,” and “[t]he
most reliable evidence of legislative intent is the plain language of the statute.” Le Gassick, 330

2
 Plaintiffs also asserted claims of defamation and false light, which were dismissed by the trial
court under MCR 2.116(C)(6) because they were raised in another forum. Plaintiffs do not
challenge the dismissal of these claims on appeal.

                                                  -2-
Mich App at 495 (citation omitted). “If the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous, it is
presumed that the Legislature intended the meaning plainly expressed in the statute.” Id. We
“give effect to every word, phrase, and clause,” avoiding “an interpretation that would render any
part of the statute surplusage or nugatory.” Id. We also give common words and phrases their
plain meaning “as determined by the context in which the words are used, and a dictionary may
be consulted to ascertain the meaning of an undefined word or phrase.” Id.

                                         B. DISCUSSION

        Plaintiffs claim that the trial court erred when determining that the photograph taken of
Maritas was not eavesdropping because defendants’ public distribution of the photograph
constitutes the transmission of Maritas’s “private discourse.”3

       MCL 750.539d(1) provides that “a person shall not do either of the following”:

               (a) Install, place, or use in any private place, without the consent of the
       person or persons entitled to privacy in that place, any device for observing,
       recording, transmitting, photographing, or eavesdropping upon the sounds or events
       in that place.

              (b) Distribute, disseminate, or transmit for access by any other person a
       recording, photograph, or visual image the person knows or has reason to know was
       obtained in violation of this section.

“A person who violates or attempts to violate this section is guilty of a crime[.]” MCL
750.539d(3). Although MCL 750.539d(1) is a criminal statute, MCL 750.539h permits plaintiffs
to recover civil damages if they face unlawful eavesdropping. MCL 750.539h states:

              Any parties to any conversation upon which eavesdropping is practiced
       contrary to this act shall be entitled to the following civil remedies:

                 (a) An injunction by a court of record prohibiting further eavesdropping.

                 (b) All actual damages against the person who eavesdrops.

                 (c) Punitive damages as determined by the court or by a jury. [Emphasis
       added.]

While MCL 750.539d imposes criminal liability for recording, transmitting, photographing, or
eavesdropping upon the sounds or events in a private place without consent, recovery of damages
under MCL 750.539h is limited only to eavesdropping on a conversation. Thus, the issue before

3
  Defendants contend that plaintiffs’ brief is so inadequate that it amounts to an abandonment of
their entire appeal. Because plaintiffs’ brief presents their arguments and provides authority in
support of many of their contentions, plaintiffs’ failure to adequately brief every contention does
not constitute abandonment of their entire appeal.

                                                 -3-
us is whether taking and disseminating Maritas’s photograph constitutes eavesdropping under
MCL 750.539h.

        Eavesdropping is defined by statute as: “to overhear, record, amplify or transmit any part
of the private discourse of others without the permission of all persons engaged in the discourse.”
MCL 750.539a(2) (emphasis added). Although the statute does not define “private discourse,”
this Court has previously recognized that “its ordinary dictionary definition is communication of
thought by words; talk; conversation; . . . any unit of connected speech or writing longer than a
sentence.” Lewis v LeGrow, 258 Mich App 175, 185; 670 NW2d 675 (2003) (cleaned up;
emphasis added). As such, eavesdropping “is limited to overhearing, recording, amplifying, or
transmitting the private, oral, or written communication of others without the permission of all
persons engaged in the communication.” Id. (cleaned up). As a matter of common sense, the
photograph of Maritas does not record or transmit oral communication, as it involves no spoken
words. Nor does the photograph depict any written communication by Maritas. Thus, although
the photograph may be considered a visual means of communication, because it does not record
or transmit the private discourse of Maritas, the trial court did not err by concluding that plaintiffs
failed to state a cause of action under MCL 750.539h.

         Plaintiffs, relying primarily on dicta from unpublished caselaw,4 contend that photographs
are communications that constitute “private discourse” under the statute. The cases that plaintiffs
rely on, however, are unrelated to the question of whether a photograph constitutes the private
discourse of others under MCL 750.539a(2). As such, they are inapplicable and unpersuasive.
Plaintiffs also claim that when determining whether the photograph constitutes the “private
discourse of others,” the trial court should have considered that the photograph was taken during
an oral, not video, deposition and the “communicative intent” of defendants. Because plaintiffs
do not cite any caselaw in support of their contentions, their arguments are abandoned. See Yee v
Shiawassee Co Bd of Comm’rs, 251 Mich App 379, 406; 651 NW2d 756 (2002) (“[W]here a party
fails to brief the merits of an allegation of error, the issue is deemed abandoned by this Court.”)
(cleaned up). Regardless, their arguments lack merit because the plain language of MCL 750.539h
requires no such consideration. The eavesdropping statute was designed to protect the
unconsented recording or transmission of an individual’s private discourse. The format of the
deposition and defendants’ intent when posting the photograph are irrelevant to determining
whether a photograph records or transmits Maritas’s private, oral, or written communication.

        Plaintiffs’ interpretation also fails to give meaning to each word of the statute by conflating
“eavesdropping” with “photographing.” MCL 750.539d(1)(a) lists a series of prohibited actions—
“observing, recording, transmitting, photographing, or eavesdropping”—each of which must
retain some independent meaning. Adopting plaintiffs’ argument that photographing Maritas
equates to eavesdropping would render portions of the statute surplusage or nugatory, which we
always endeavor to avoid. See Le Gassick, 330 Mich App at 495. Although defendants’ taking

4
  While they may be considered for their persuasive value, unpublished opinions are not
precedentially binding on this Court. MCR 7.215(C)(1); Kern v Kern-Koskela, 320 Mich App
212, 241; 905 NW2d 453 (2017).

                                                 -4-
and dissemination of the unconsented photograph of Maritas may violate MCL 750.539d(1), this
violation does not entitle plaintiffs to civil remedies under MCL 750.539h. Because plaintiffs’
eavesdropping claim “is so clearly unenforceable that no factual development could possibly
justify recovery,” El-Khalil, 504 Mich at 159, the trial court did not err by granting summary
disposition in favor of defendants.5

       We affirm.

                                                          /s/ Kristina Robinson Garrett
                                                          /s/ Michael J. Riordan
                                                          /s/ Anica Letica

5
  In their brief, defendants request that we award them actual and punitive damages because
plaintiffs filed a “vexatious appeal” under MCR 7.216(C)(1)(a). A party’s request for damages
for a vexatious appeal “must be contained in a motion” filed under MCR 7.211, not in a brief.
MCR 7.211(C)(8). Because defendants failed to file a motion in accordance with MCR
7.211(C)(8), we decline to address their request.

                                              -5-