Is video recording acceptable evidence in court?
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Is video recording acceptable evidence in court?
If I were to tape a person with a spy pen/hidden camera confessing/admitting that he owes me money and have not paid yet because original contract was lost during the move. Would that be an acceptable evidence in court if person still tries to escape the payment? In IL.
Asked on November 20, 2011 under Bankruptcy Law, Illinois
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
In order for an audio tape to be admitted in court it would have had to have been legally obtained. And IL is what is known as an "all party consent" state. This means that all parties to a conversation must consent to it's recording; the person doing the recording must be a party to the conversation and everyone else being recorded must consent.
This is true unless there is no expectation of privacy. In other words, was the conversation considered to be private or not? In-person conversations are not necessarily private. As a general rule, such conversations that can be naturally overheard (i.e. without use of any special devices) are not considered private communications. So where you record matters. If it's in someone's home or office all people being recorded must agree to it; if it's a restaurant or other open area than consent is not needed.
Failure to obtain unanimous consent can result in both civil and criminal liability.
Note: The above is the law for both in-person and telephone communications, except that all telephone conversations are deemed to be private do there is always an expectation of privacy and consent must be obtained.
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