Recording Conversations in Florida

Much to the chagrin of many local PIs, Florida is what’s referred to as a two-party consent state when it comes to intercepting or recording “wire, oral, or electronic communication.” See Fla. Stat. ch. 934.03. Florida makes the exception with regards to in-person communications that occur outside of a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. As such, the inside of a person’s private residence is almost always off limits (unless of course everyone in the room has given consent to be recorded). This comes up time and time again when clients wish to record a person’s conversations or activities in their home. Many times, a client will go “PI shopping,” seeking to hire one who is willing to violate state laws, in the hopes of obtaining the “smoking gun” by any means necessary. Be very cautious of any PI willing to do this. They are not only risking their license, but opening themselves up to civil and criminal liability. A good PI will have the skill and know-how to work around this (such as getting the subject out in public prior to recording them). Furthermore, if you ever plan to use recorded evidence in court, it will not be admissible if it was obtained in violation of Florida statue.

This two-party consent rule applies to recording telephone conversations as well. Making this matter confusing is the fact that some states (including Federal law) only requires that one party is aware of the conversation being recorded. So what happens if a PI in Florida wants to record a phone call in which the other person is in a one-party consent state (i.e. Michigan)? In a case like this, expect the person in the one-party consent state to file suit, and for Florida to pick up jurisdiction. In other words, the person being recorded might be in a one-party consent state, but the act of recording is clearly taking place in a two-party consent state.