50 U.S.C. § 1810
Section 1810 · Civil liability
This is § 110 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 24 court decisions — leading case Marek v. Chesny (1985)
Most recently applied in Carter Page v. James Comey (May 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
An aggrieved person, other than a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power, as defined in section 1801(a) or (b)(1)(A) of this title, respectively, who has been subjected to an electronic surveillance or about whom information obtained by electronic surveillance of such person has been disclosed or used in violation of section 1809 of this title shall have a cause of action against any person who committed such violation and shall be entitled to recover—
actual damages, but not less than liquidated damages equal to the greater of—
if the aggrieved person is a United States person, $10,000 or $1,000 per day for each day of violation; or
for any other aggrieved person, $1,000 or $100 per day for each day of violation;
punitive damages; and
reasonable attorney’s fees and other investigation and litigation costs reasonably incurred.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2024—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 118–49 amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) read as follows: “actual damages, but not less than liquidated damages of $1,000 or $100 per day for each day of violation, whichever is greater;”.