Pen. Code, § 629.86 · Chapter 1.4. Interception of Wire, Electronic Digital Pager, or Electronic Cellular Telephone Communications
Pen. Code, § 629.86
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Any person whose wire or electronic communication is intercepted, disclosed, or used in violation of this chapter shall have the following remedies:
(a) Have a civil cause of action against any person who intercepts, discloses, or uses, or procures any other person to intercept, disclose, or use, the communications.
(b) Be entitled to recover, in that action, all of the following:
(1) Actual damages but not less than liquidated damages computed at the rate of one hundred dollars ($100) a day for each day of violation or one thousand dollars ($1,000), whichever is greater.
(2) Punitive damages.
(3) Reasonable attorney’s fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred.
A good faith reliance on a court order is a complete defense to any civil or criminal action brought under this chapter, or under Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 630) or any other law.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 707, Sec. 20. (SB 1428) Effective January 1, 2011. Repealed as of January 1, 2030, pursuant to Section 629.98.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=629.86.
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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