Federal judge allows lawsuit to proceed over illegal Mass. State Police recordings
WORCESTER ― A civil lawsuit filed by people recorded illegally by the Massachusetts State Police during drug investigations will continue after Worcester’s federal judge opined it had passed preliminary legal muster.
U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman, in a lengthy decision Friday, declined to fully grant motions to dismiss the case filed by the colonel of the state police and a co-defendant, Motorola.
The company, as well as the colonel, are being sued by four people illegally recorded in drug stings that a Fitchburg judge opined had been conducted in violation of the Massachusetts Wiretap Act.
Guzman referenced the ruling multiple times in a 47-page decision on complicated arguments of law argued by lawyers in February.
Guzman dismissed some of the counts faced by Motorola but left enough intact for the case to proceed including a count against Motorola that alleged violation of the Wiretap Act and a count against the state police colonel, who is now Jeffrey Noble, that alleged constitutional violations.
One of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Christopher Batinsey, told the Telegram & Gazette Tuesday that he was encouraged by the ruling.
“Even at this preliminary stage, the court appears to see the harm that Motorola has done and that state police have done,” he said.
State police, Fitchburg District Court First Justice Christopher P. LoConto found, broke the state's criminal wiretap law by failing to get warrants to use a smartphone application made by Motorola that allowed for surreptitious streaming and recording.
Motorola argued it couldn’t be held liable for state police misusing Motorola's product. However, Guzman noted the state police had specifically asked Motorola to change the default setting of the application so that it did not automatically record — a request the company denied.
The judge did caution that the plaintiffs' allegations on that point — which must be accepted as true for the purposes of a motion to dismiss — were “barely enough” to meet the threshold at this stage of the case.
She noted that whether the claims will survive further court challenges will likely depend on information about meetings between Motorola and state police exchanged by lawyers in the next stage of the lawsuit.
A lawyer for Motorola did not respond to an email seeking comment Monday, while a lawyer for Noble referred comment to state police, who declined to comment.
The plaintiffs' plan to ask for the case to be certified as a class-action lawsuit as hundreds of cases, some of which have been dismissed, were impacted by the recordings.