Deal V Spears Case Analysis

Deal v. Spears Case Analysis

Factual Summary

Sibbie Deal and Calvin Lucas sued Mrs. Deal’s former employers, Newell and Juanita Spears, for alleged violation of the federal wiretapping statute (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). Mrs. Deal was an employee of the Spears’s White Oak Package Store from December 1998 until she was fired in August 1990 (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). Prior to Mrs. Deal being fired, the store was burglarized and $16,000 was stolen (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). Mr. and Mrs. Spears believed Mrs. Deal was the culprit so they installed a recording device on their home phone line (which happened to also be the line used for the store) in hopes of getting an unguarded confession (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). The device automatically recorded all calls from the house and the store but did not alert the parties that their call was being recorded (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). Mr. and Mrs. Spears had previously warned Mrs. Deal that her calls might be monitored, or other factors introduced, if she did not cut back on making personal phone calls (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). However prior to purchasing the recorder, Mr. Newell advised a sheriff’s investigator of his intentions and the investigator replied that he did not “see anything wrong with that” (Twomey, 2010, p. 631).

From June 27, 1990 through August 13, 1990, twenty-two hours of tapes were recorded (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). The main content of the tapes consisted of evidence that Mrs. Deal and Mr. Lucas were having an extramarital affair (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). Although there was no evidence that Mrs. Deal had any involvement in the burglary, there was evidence that she violated store policy on a sale she made to Mr. Lucas (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). When Mrs. Deal reported for work on August 13, 1990, Mr. Spears played a few seconds of the incriminating tape for her and then fired her (Twomey, 2010, p. 631). As a result, Mrs. Deal and Mr. Lucas filed a civil suit for statutory and punitive damages on August 29, 1990. The...