A woman is suing Howard Stern as well as the U.S. government after a private phone conversation she had with the IRS was broadcast on the shock jock's SiriusXM satellite radio show. The conversation was played when an IRS agent called into the show and was put on hold and continued speaking to the woman after unknowingly being put through on the air.
Howard Stern Show Airs IRS Phone Call Live
It all started on May 19, 2015, when Judith Barrigas called into the IRS to discuss an issue with her personal taxes. Apparently, the IRS had applied a refund due to her back taxes, which were owed from prior years even though there had already been a separate payment agreement established for that debt.
The IRS agent with whom Barrigas spoke, Jimmy Forsythe, is apparently a fan of Howard Stern's popular SiriusXM morning show and had called into the show on another line to talk with the famous host live on air. While Forsythe was placed on hold, he engaged in the conversation with Barrigas, but at some point, Stern and his crew picked up on Forsythe's call and aired it live.
Instead of hearing the agent's question for Stern, the show and its listeners were treated to his conversation with Barrigas, including the details of her tax situation as well as her phone number. Listeners of the show soon barraged Barrigas with texts informing her of what was going on but not before her personal information was broadcast to the show's more than 1 million daily listeners.
Lawsuit vs Stern And US Government
Now, Barrigas is suing both the U.S. government as well as Stern and his show for what she says is negligence and invasion of privacy. She also claims Stern intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon her by airing the call live and later on its website, and she now suffers from anxiety, sleep loss, and inability to find employment as a result.
"The defendants breached their duty of reasonable care by broadcasting the private phone conversation between Mrs. Barrigas and the IRS on May 19, 2015, and thereby publicly disseminating private tax return and identity information of Mrs. Barrigas's to over one million people worldwide," according to the lawsuit.
Barrigas also claims that despite her complaints, the IRS failed to act on the matter until she called the helpline of a local TV station, after which it suspended Forsythe.
While it certainly seems reasonable for the IRS to take responsibility for alleged damages its agent may have caused, blaming Stern, who earns an estimated $90 million annually on his SiriusXM contract, is more of a stretch. There was no prior intent on the part of Stern or the show to air Barrigas's personal information, as it clearly occurred when they merely tried to pick up a call from a listener, and there is no clear legal basis for claiming that Stern and the show's producers had a legal responsibility not to continue to air it even once aware of what was actually occurring.
