Word of the Month for October 2018: Evesdropping

Once upon a time, I was in the market to buy a house.  The wife and I searched everywhere.  Some houses were big, some small, some white, and one was this funky-psychedelic-freak-your-eyes-out-color.  Heck, there was this one that was so beat-up we called it the Lebanon house (because it was the worse fixer-upper we'd ever seen).

One thing that I was looking for was what kind of neighborhood might we live in.  Some of the houses were in quiet neighborhoods.  Some were on (or near) a main drag with lots of car traffic.  The thing I would do is ask around and find out if people were good neighbors; were they loud, have bratty kids, have any kids (for our kids to play with), and whether they were nosey neighbors.  

You know the kind - people who have to stick their nose in everything; have to know what all is going on around them.  Their house may fall apart but they've got to know what everyone else is doing.  It took us a long time but we finally found a house we could both agree on (and there were/are no nosey neighbors).

Of course, this brings me to our word of the month:  EVESDROPPING.  According to Black's Law Dictionary, EVESDROPPING is:

The act of secretly listening to the private conversation of others without their consent; a clandestine attempt to overhear or intercept others private communication.

The reason I even bring this up is because the other day I witnessed something akin to the nosey neighbor syndrome.  We often have attorneys who consult with clients at our library.  Well, on this one day there was this attorney who was consulting with their client just before a deposition.  About 20 feet away, opposing counsel was nonchalantly standing reading something.  

As attorney and client were engaged, I noticed opposing counsel inching closer and closer to the conversation until he stopped and started furiously writing something.  I guessed (correctly) that opposing was taking copious notes on the conversation in hopes of getting a leg up on the competition and to know how best to proceed in the deposition.  

Attorney and client were clueless at first and then attorney glanced up, saw what was going on, flipped out, demanded opposing's notes, cancelled the deposition, threatened sanctions, threatened motions, threatened to tattle to the Bar, and stormed out of the library with client in close pursuit.

Yep, never a dull day at the law library.  I don't know if attorney can get anything from opposing but I'm betting the judge will be none too happy with an attorney who can't play fair and keep their nose away from where it doesn't belong.  

Oh, well. I guess the moral to this story is, if you think you shouldn't do it, don't.  If you're gut is saying no, listen to your gut and don't.  If you might get sanctioned if you do it, then don't do it.  

Bottom line, keep your nose clean and away from problems and you'll do just fine.