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I filed a lawsuit concerning illegal wiretap intercepts by a man who used those intercepts, as well as many others, to blackmail his wife at the courthouse steps in order to gain everything in his divorce. He did just that, kicked her out of their house and took away the kids and kept his precious business and asked for support payments form HER, a now destitute woman. He set her up for this mind you, by 5 years of emotional abuse. In my complaint, I have been a bit too subtle ("used the intercepts to intimidate..."). However this abuser has not changed thus I want to discard the SUBTLE parts, and just say what it truly WAS. However I must remain legal about this, and refrain from overly emotional charges in my amended complaint which is due tomorrow. I wanted to know the legal term I can include in my charges, or how to list this crime in my allegations. In particular in the "summary of the action" section. I know this is a civil matter, and perhaps criminal accusations are not appropriate in a complaint, but his blackmail forms the entire basis for the lawsuit, so I feel it MUST be included somehow. I DO have proof and witnesses and someone willing to testify as to that aspect. I wanted to know how to list it as part of the accusations without running afoul of accepted practices and decorum.Thank You Very Much
Hi,My name is XXXXX XXXXX X'd be happy to answer your questions today.There are a couple different things you might be able to allege that could apply:1. Harassment - engaging in a course of conduct that serves no legitimate purpose other than to intimidate someone.2. Intentional infliction of emotional distress - engaging in extreme and/or outrageous conduct (or a sort considered intolerable by society), with the intent to produce, and that does produce, extreme emotional distress in the subject of the behavior. As a general rule, when something is illegal, that's a good indication that society finds it to be intolerable. So, that's going to include both illegal wiretaps and 3. Invasion of privacy - if the wiretaps were placed somewhere that the wife had a reasonable expectation of privacy, she might be able to prove that.4. Violation of the relevant wire-tapping statute. In many states, she can seek damages for violation of the statute. So, any of those are possible options. Please remember to rate my response before signing out, as this is the only way that I get credit for the time I spend helping you. I hope that you are satisfied - if not, please click "reply" so that we may continue the conversation.
Experience: JA Mentor
yes, I have some of those already listed in the Complaint, I am sorry I did not more fully explain that. However the terms BLACKMAIL and COERCION are all that I am familiar with. Is there no legal counterpart? or federal statute I can point to in order to add those terms to my list of accusations? I am filing criminal charges of course, but is there a way to also include this in the complaint as an actionable cause?
Blackmail and coercion can be part of the pattern of conduct used to establish intentional infliction of emotional distress. That's really the best fit. Either would probably be considered "extreme and/or outrageous." There isn't a direct civil correlation. If he used blackmail to get you to give him money, then you could also argue conversion - essentially, that's the equivalent of theft, but you would be able to argue that you did not voluntarily give him money, and that is should be returned. There is no general federal tort that a person can invoke. The Constitution only gave Congress certain powers, and everything else is up to the state to decide. So, there are only a few torts that a person can sue for under federal law, and that's typically civil rights violations (by someone acting on behalf of the state), or someone working for a federal agency, or conduct that occurs across state lines. There isn't a federal coercion or blackmail civil statute.