You walk out in front of your house to take out the garbage and you notice that unusual Chevrolet van with the limousine tinted windows parked across the street from your house. It's not a familiar vehicle to you and you're sure it doesn't belong to any of your neighbors.

You walk across the street and put your face right up to one of the side windows and can just barely make out the sun shade of a video camera lens pointed right thru that window aimed directly at your house. You look inside the van thru the windshield and don't see anybody moving around in the vehicle.

Chances are that you have just been made the subject of a private investigator's sub rosa video with a remotely operated camcorder transmitting your image via wireless to the operator in another vehicle that is located in the vicinity, maybe around the corner or up the block.

Today, the term "sub rosa" refers to the clandestine surveillance of an individual's daily activities, documenting these activities with the aid of video or still cameras.

Now you have this real uneasy feeling that your privacy has been violated and paranoia sets in. You ask yourself "Why me?" Why are they violating my privacy?

The answer is quite simple. You filed a Workers' Compensation claim. The PI (Private Investigator) has parked a decoy vehicle in front of your house to observe you and your family and every thing you do in public.

I'm an injured worker, just like you, and the van in the inset picture mysteriously appeared across the street from my house the other day. It doesn't belong to any of my neighbors and a check of motor vehicle records shows the plates registered to one who also holds a state private investigator's license as well.

Then we wonder just what "red flag" went up at the insurance company to subject us to this kind of treatment. The answer to that is none! This is how claims adjusters treat all claimants' who have the audacity to exercise their rights under the law when they get injured at work. They're just looking for any excuse to terminate your claim, any excuse at all!

Just what gives them the right to invade the sanctity of your neighborhood and your home?

More and more, Workers' Compensation insurance companies are resorting to the use of private investigators and subrosa investigations to reduce their exposure and liability to valid claims.

Many of these claims have not raised any red flags to warrant this type of action. Injured workers in even the most innocuous of occupations such as teachers and librarians, are having their everyday activities recorded on video for the insurance carriers to use against them in court to attempt to invalidate their claims. More and more we are seeing school districts and city municipalities resorting to these sordid tactics.

When they get caught with their fingers in the proverbial cookie jar, they use the state "Government Code" (Section 821.6) to shield themsleves from any type of liability or damages that their unwarranted actions might cause the subjects of their investigations!

In a standard interpretation of the law, private investigators may only photograph private people in their private residences, when they are clearly visable to the general public and there is no expectation of privacy. They may not enter onto private property or maneuver themselves into posititons that would allow them unique views that would be otherwise blocked from public view, such as peering or taking pictures thru or over backyard fences.

On the other hand, claims adjusters/examiners are just doing their job. They are trained, educated, and experienced in the process. However, adjusters/examiners do not have the same looming issues to worry about and know a claimant is always vulnerable, easily manipulated, and an easy target from the onset of the claim. They'll do anything in their power to reduce their financial exposure by whatever means necessary. This is only one of the many tricks in their bag.

And it appears to be worth the gamble of several thousand dollars that can be absorbed in the cost of the Workers' Compensation case to send a PI out to dig up whatever dirt he can on the unsuspecting injured worker.

Ironically they won't just limit this kind of conduct to the active life of your Workers' Compensation case. They'll even have PI's on your back, following you for years after you settle your claim with the insurance company just so that they can find any little excuse to demand all that money back. Is it outrageous, You bet'cha! Do they get away with it? Everyday! Ask your state legislators, they're the enablers?

There are some upstanding honest private investigators out there who will wait for that certain picture to catch an injured worker doing a task that he or she has testified that they can't do, and then there are those who will create a situation to rope-in an unsuspecting mark. After all, a PI is only as good as his last report, and if it doesn't say what the claims examiner client wants, they'll go shopping for PI's until they find one who will deliver the report that they desire.

Sections 7512-7574 of the California Business & Professions Code, are considered the California Private Investigators Act, and cover the conduct of California Private Investigators.

Below, for your convenience, are excerpts from the California Civil Code that deal with Invasion of Privacy and Stalking. Read them well and KNOW your rights. The laws may vary in other states, but let these be a guide!

     (a) A person is liable for physical invasion of privacy when the defendant knowingly enters onto the land of another person without permission or otherwise committed a trespass in order to physically invade the privacy of the plaintiff with the intent to capture any type of visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression of the plaintiff engaging in a personal or familial activity and the physical invasion occurs in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person.
     (b) A person is liable for constructive invasion of privacy when the defendant attempts to capture, in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person, any type of visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression of the plaintiff engaging in a personal or familial activity under circumstances in which the plaintiff had a reasonable expectation of privacy, through the use of a visual or auditory enhancing device, regardless of whether there is a physical trespass, if this image, sound recording, or other physical impression could not have been achieved without a trespass unless the visual or auditory enhancing device was used.
     (c) An assault committed with the intent to capture any type of visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression of the plaintiff is subject to subdivisions (d), (e), and (h).
     (d) A person who commits any act described in subdivision (a), (b), or (c) is liable for up to three times the amount of any general and special damages that are proximately caused by the violation of this section. This person may also be liable for punitive damages, subject to proof according to Section 3294. If the plaintiff proves that the invasion of privacy was committed for a commercial purpose, the defendant shall also be subject to disgorgement to the plaintiff of any proceeds or other consideration obtained as a result of the violation of this section.
     (e) A person who directs, solicits, actually induces, or actually causes another person, regardless of whether there is an employer-employee relationship, to violate any provision of subdivision (a), (b), or (c) is liable for any general, special, and consequential damages resulting from each said violation. In addition, the person that directs, solicits, instigates, induces, or otherwise causes another person, regardless of whether there is an employer-employee relationship, to violate this section shall be liable for punitive damages to the extent that an employer would be subject to punitive damages pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 3294.
     (f) Sale, transmission, publication, broadcast, or use of any image or recording of the type, or under the circumstances, described in this section shall not itself constitute a violation of this section, nor shall this section be construed to limit all other rights or remedies of plaintiff in law or equity, including, but not limited to, the publication of private facts.
     (g) This section shall not be construed to impair or limit any otherwise lawful activities of law enforcement personnel or employees of governmental agencies or other entities, either public or private who, in the course and scope of their employment, and supported by an articulable suspicion, attempt to capture any type of visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression of a person during an investigation, surveillance, or monitoring of any conduct to obtain evidence of suspected illegal activity, the suspected violation of any administrative rule or regulation, a suspected fraudulent insurance claim, or any other suspected fraudulent conduct or activity involving a violation of law or pattern of business practices adversely affecting the public health or safety.
     (h) In any action pursuant to this section, the court may grant equitable relief, including, but not limited to, an injunction and restraining order against further violations of subdivision (a) or (b).
     (i) The rights and remedies provided in this section are cumulative and in addition to any other rights and remedies provided by law.
     (j) It is not a defense to a violation of this section that no image, recording, or physical impression was captured or sold.
     (k) For the purposes of this section, "for a commercial purpose" means any act done with the expectation of a sale, financial gain, or other consideration. A visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression shall not be found to have been, or intended to have been captured for a commercial purpose unless it is intended to be, or was in fact, sold, published, or transmitted.
     (l) For the purposes of this section, "personal and familial activity" includes, but is not limited to, intimate details of the plaintiff's personal life, interactions with the plaintiff's familyor significant others, or other aspects of plaintiff's private affairs or concerns. Personal and familial activity does not include illegal or otherwise criminal activity as delineated in subdivision (f). However, "personal and familial activity" shall include the activities of victims of crime in circumstances where either subdivision (a) or (b), or both, would apply.
     (m) The provisions of this section are severable. If any provision of this section or it's application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

     (a) A person is liable for the tort of stalking when the plaintiff proves all of the following elements of the tort:
       (1) The defendant engaged in a pattern of conduct the intent of which was to follow, alarm, or harass the plaintiff. In order to establish this element, the plaintiff shall be required to support his or her allegations with independent corroborating evidence.
       (2) As a result of that pattern of conduct, the plaintiff reasonably feared for his or her safety, or the safety of an immediate family member. For purposes of this paragraph, "immediate family" means a spouse, parent, child, any person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any person who regularly resides, or, within the six months preceding any portion of the pattern of conduct, regularly resided, in the plaintiff's household.
       (3) One of the following:
         (A) The defendant, as a part of the pattern of conduct specified in paragraph (1), made a credible threat with the intent to place the plaintiff in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of an immediate family member and, on at least one occasion, the plaintiff clearly and definitively demanded that the defendant cease and abate his or her pattern of conduct and the defendant persisted in his or her pattern of conduct.
         (B) The defendant violated a restraining order, including, but not limited to, any order issued pursuant to Section 527.6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, prohibiting any act described in subdivision (a).
     (b) For the purposes of this section:
       (1) "Pattern of conduct" means conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose. Constitutionally protected activity is not included within the meaning of "pattern of conduct."
       (2) "Credible threat" means a verbal or written threat, including that communicated by means of an electronic communication device, or a threat implied by a pattern of conduct or a combination of verbal, written, or electronically communicated statements and conduct, made with the intent and apparent ability to carry out the threat so as to cause the person who is the target of the threat to reasonably fear for his or her safety or the safety of his or her immediate family.
       (3) "Electronic communication device" includes, but is not limited to, telephones, cellular telephones, computers, video recorders, fax machines, or pagers. "Electronic communication" has the same meaning as the term defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
       (4) "Harass" means a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person which seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes the person, and which serves no legitimate purpose. The course of conduct must be such as would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and must actually cause substantial emotional distress to the person.
     (c) A person who commits the tort of stalking upon another is liable to that person for damages, including, but not limited to, general damages, special damages, and punitive damages pursuant to Section 3294.
     (d) In an action pursuant to this section, the court may grant equitable relief, including, but not limited to, an injunction.
     (e) The rights and remedies provided in this section are cumulative and in addition to any other rights and remedies providedby law.
     (f) This section shall not be construed to impair any constitutionally protected activity, including, but not limited to,speech, protest, and assembly.