Conflict of Law and Surreptitious Taping of Telephone Conversations

Although the federal government and a majority of states allow surreptitious taping of a telephone conversation with one party-consent, this practice violates state statutes in ten states. A question faced by courts is: What law applies where surreptitious taping of a telephone conversation involves more than one jurisdiction, with one jurisdiction an all-party consent jurisdiction and the other a one-party consent jurisdiction? This paper explores how courts have dealt with this question.