Kight

Plaintiffs challenge a court order decertifying a class alleging violations of Penal Code section 632, the statute prohibiting the undisclosed monitoring or recording of confidential telephone conversations. We affirm the order.

INTRODUCTION

In 2006, several borrowers sued their lender, CashCall, Inc., alleging CashCall monitored their telephone conversations without their knowledge or consent. Over CashCall’s objections, the trial court certified a class on one of the claims, an alleged violation of section 632, subdivision (a), which imposes liability on a “person” who intentionally “eavesdrops upon or records [a] confidential communication” and engages in this conduct “without the consent of all parties.” (Italics added.)

After class certification, CashCall successfully moved for summary adjudication on the section 632 claim. The trial court found as a matter of law a corporation does not violate the statute when one of its supervisory employees secretly monitors a conversation between a customer and another corporate employee, reasoning that two employees are a single “person” within the meaning of the statute.

We reversed this order in a published decision.…