Collins v. Collins

904 S.W.2d 792, 1995 WL 390715
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 31, 1995
Docket01-91-00782-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 904 S.W.2d 792 (Collins v. Collins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. Collins, 904 S.W.2d 792, 1995 WL 390715 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

EN BANC OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

O’CONNOR, Justice.

Appellee filed a motion requesting this Court to hear this case en banc. On rehearing, the Court sitting en banc grants his motion, withdraws the panel opinion, and issues this in its stead. We reverse and remand for a new trial on the issues of custody, the division of property, the assessment of statutory damages for violations of the federal and state wiretap statutes, and attorney fees. We affirm the granting of the divorce and the tort judgment of $15,000.

[796]*796Fact Summary

This is an appeal from a final decree of divorce between appellant, Dana Lynn Collins (wife), and appellee, Glenn Samuel Collins (husband). The entire 19-year marriage of this couple was characterized by spousal abuse, affairs by both parties, separations, and reconciliations. The couple married when the wife was 16 years old. She worked while her husband attended college acquiring masters and doctoral degrees. After college, the husband developed a very successful business. They were granted a divorce on December 13, 1990.

In answer to 11 questions, the jury recommended appointment of the husband as sole managing conservator of the minor child; valued a group of businesses at $2,189,482.90, one-half of which was the marital community estate’s major asset; found for the wife in a tort cause of action against the husband based on an illegal wiretap of her telephone; found the husband had “intercepted” the wife’s telephonic communications; and determined the amount of the wife’s attorney fees.

In the judgment, the trial court:
(1) appointed the husband as sole managing conservator of the minor child;
(2) appointed the wife as sole possessory conservator of the minor child;
(3) awarded the wife a $15,000 judgment on her tort claim for spousal abuse;
(4) awarded the wife, for her community interest in a group of businesses, owelty in the sum of $342,000, at six percent interest, to be paid in monthly installments of $4,000, secured by one-half of the husband’s shares in CIC Agency, Inc., one of the businesses; and
(5) ordered each party to pay his or her respective attorney fees and court costs.

The wife appeals the jury’s valuation of the community property, the custody determination of the couple’s minor child, the admission into evidence of tapes from the illegal wiretapping, the denial of statutory damages for illegal wiretapping, the denial of attorney fees, the equitable division of the parties’ community estate, the possession order, and the owelty award.

A.

Violation of the Wiretap Statutes1

In point of error 3(B)-(F), the wife contends she is entitled to statutory damages because of the illegal wiretaps.

The wife contends that certain tape recordings were obtained by the husband in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521 (“the federal wiretap statute”) and Tex.Civ.PRAC. & Rem. Code §§ 123.001-123.004 (“the state wiretap statute”). The husband argues that spouses are exempt from the wiretap prohibitions in both statutes. He argues he had a right to tape the conversations, and he had the right to use the tapes in the divorce proceeding.

The federal wiretap statute prohibits the interception and use of illegally intercepted communications. 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521. Under section 2520(a), any person whose communication is intercepted, disclosed, or intentionally used in violation of the statute, is entitled to recover in a civil action.

The state wiretap statute prohibits the use of the illegally intercepted communication. Section 123.004 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code states that a party whose communication is intercepted may obtain an injunction prohibiting the “divulgenee or use of information obtained by an interception.” The illegal interception of a conversation and the use of the conversation is a second degree felony. TexPenal Code § 16.02(f).

Two Texas courts of appeals have held that the interception of a telephone conversation by a spouse is illegal. Kent v. State, 809 S.W.2d 664, 668 (Tex.App.—Amarillo 1991, pet. ref'd) (defendant violated former TexPe-nal Code § 16.02 by placing a wiretap on the wife’s telephone); Turner v. PV Int’l Corp., 765 S.W.2d 455, 469-71 (Tex.App.—Dallas [797]*7971988), writ denied per curiam, 778 S.W.2d 865, 866 (Tex.1989).2

Neither the state nor the federal wiretap statutes contain any exception for wiretaps between spouses. See Kent, 809 S.W.2d at 668 (Texas statute); Kempf v. Kempf, 868 F.2d 970, 973 (8th Cir.1989) (federal statute). In United States v. Giordano, 416 U.S. 505, 514, 94 S.Ct. 1820, 1826, 40 L.Ed.2d 341 (1974), the Court said:

[T]he purpose of the legislation [18 U.S.C. § 2510] was effectively to prohibit ... all interceptions of oral and wire communications, except those specifically provided for in the Act....

(Emphasis added.)

Texas courts have long recognized both a common law and a constitutional right of privacy. State Employees Union v. Dep’t of Mental Health, 746 S.W.2d 203, 205 (Tex.1987) (the right of privacy is implicit in the Texas Constitution); Billings v. Atkinson, 489 S.W.2d 858, 860 (Tex.1973) (a homeowner has a cause of action for illegal wiretap of residence based on the common-law right of privacy). Nothing in the Texas Constitution or our common law suggests that the right of privacy is limited to unmarried individuals.

Only two federal courts of appeals have held the federal wiretap statute exempts spouses from its prohibitions. Anonymous v. Anonymous, 558 F.2d 677, 679 (2d Cir.1977); Simpson v. Simpson, 490 F.2d 803, 809 (5th Cir.1974). Those opinions have been widely criticized. See, e.g., Platt v. Platt, 951 F.2d 159, 160 (8th Cir.1989); Heggy v. Heggy, 944 F.2d 1537, 1539 (10th Cir.1991); Kempf, 868 F.2d at 972-73; Pritchard v. Pritchard, 732 F.2d 372, 374 (4th Cir.1984); United States v. Jones, 542 F.2d 661, 667 (6th Cir.1976); Walker v. Carter, 820 F.Supp. 1095, 1097 (C.D.Ill.1993); Nations v. Nations, 670 F.Supp.

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904 S.W.2d 792, 1995 WL 390715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-collins-texapp-1995.