[Law suit cites Federal Wiretap Act www.upi.com]
On Friday, January 25, U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning ruled that even though the cell phone call was accidental, the assistant was under no obligation to hang up.
Advice here: protect yourself from “pocket dialing”. Make sure your phone locks when you turn it off and put it away and also consider using a case that protects the keypad or buttons from redialing (if your phone still has buttons). Bluetooth earpieces are also a big vulnerability. Many of them will redial with a long press of the earpiece button. Shoving it in a pocket or even into a case could inadvertently squeeze the button initiating a redial even if when phone itself was locked. Some earpieces have an actual on-off switch, that is the best way to keep it off when it is not in use. Some Motorola earpieces will flip the mouthpiece to close and turn off, but (I found out the hard way) even when they were flipped closed, a firm squeeze would still wake up the phone and redial the last number.
COVINGTON, KY — The federal judge Friday dismissed a wiretapping lawsuit by the chairman of the Kenton County Airport board and his wife against a secretary at the airport over an accidental cell phone call.
In a 20-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge David L. Bunning said that airport board chairman Jim Huff and his wife, Bert, could not invoke the federal wiretapping act because they should not have expected any sort of privacy even though they were overheard in their hotel room. He added that even though the call to airport secretary Carol Spaw was accidental, Spaw was still a party to the call and had no obligation to hang up.
“They were not engaged in any of the protected forms of communication,” Bunning wrote. “Mr. and Mrs. Huff did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy” that their face-to-face conversations would not be overheard.
Bunning also called the case “novel” in Friday’s decision, and in previous court hearings, the judge had stated in open court how rare the situation was and how little case law there was as precedent.
Spaw’s lawyer, Jon Allison, said that Spaw was “incredibly relieved at the decision.”
“It’s extremely stressful to be sued as an individual, and here she was being sued by someone who was in essence her boss,” Allison said. “This is a fair result and the right result.”
Mark Guilfoyle, lawyer for the Huffs, said in a written statement that “we stand by our claim that Ms. Spaw invaded the Huffs’ privacy.”
“We are disappointed with the decision,” Guilfoyle wrote, adding that he had not read the full document. “The case has far reaching ramifications regarding the privacy of everyone who carries a cell phone on their person. We have to consider filing an appeal.”
The ruling came as a result of the Huffs’ request for Bunning to issue a preliminary injunction prohibiting the distribution of the transcript or the recording of the call.
The Enquirer has previously reported that airport board members considered firing or demoting Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport chief executive officer Candace McGraw in contentious closed-door meetings at least twice last year. The board has spent more than $120,000 on executive coaches and studies into how to improve the relationship between top board members and airport executives since late 2012.
In addition, The Enquirer also has reported that the board has spent about $140,000 on food and travel since the beginning of 2011, and another $102,000 on meals and alcohol following its monthly meetings over the last five years. Those disclosures prompted Kentucky state auditor Adam Edelen to launch a “special investigation” in November that is still ongoing.
The lawsuit stemmed from an inadvertent phone call placed by Huff to Spaw, who serves as McGraw’s assistant as well as the main contact person between board members and the airport administration.
On Oct. 24, Huff inadvertently dialed Spaw’s desk line while discussing McGraw’s future with airport board vice chairman Larry Savage. The Huffs and Savage were in Bologna, Italy, at the time, attending an airport management conference.
Previous court testimony shows that Huff and Savage were discussing ways to either demote McGraw or get her to resign when overheard by Spaw. The two also discussed replacing McGraw with Savage, currently a regional president for health insurer Humana. Spaw took notes and recorded part of the conversation, stating in court testimony that she was concerned the pair were discriminating against McGraw and violating airport policies.
With his phone still connected to Spaw’s desk line, Huff ended his conversation with Savage and went to his hotel room, where he recapped his previous conversation with his wife. The call lasted 91 minutes, with Spaw recording the last four minutes, according to court testimony.
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