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Cal. PEN § 629.86

This is the official text of Cal. PEN § 629.86, part of California’s Penal Code — defines crimes and sets criminal procedure in California.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

Any person whose wire or electronic communication is intercepted, disclosed, or used in violation of this chapter shall have the following remedies:

(a) Have a civil cause of action against any person who intercepts, discloses, or uses, or procures any other person to intercept, disclose, or use, the communications.

(b) Be entitled to recover, in that action, all of the following:

(1) Actual damages but not less than liquidated damages computed at the rate of one hundred dollars ($100) a day for each day of violation or one thousand dollars ($1,000), whichever is greater.

(2) Punitive damages.

(3) Reasonable attorney’s fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred.

A good faith reliance on a court order is a complete defense to any civil or criminal action brought under this chapter, or under Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 630) or any other law.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.