ACORN Sues Makers of Baltimore Hidden-Camera Video

Lawsuit contends audio portion violates two-party consent rule

By BEN NUCKOLS
Updated 3:42 AM EDT, Thu, Sep 24, 2009

ACORN
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BALTIMORE -- ACORN filed a lawsuit against the makers of a hidden-camera video that showed employees of its Baltimore office giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman posing as a prostitute.

The liberal activist group contends that the audio portion of the video was obtained illegally because Maryland requires two-party consent to create sound recordings.

The two employees seen in the video were fired after it was posted online. The employees, Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams, suffered "extreme emotional distress," the lawsuit says.

The multimillion-dollar lawsuit seeks damages from James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who played the pimp and prostitute in the videos, and from conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart, who posted the videos on his website.
 

First Published: Sep 23, 2009 7:13 PM EDT

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