Australian-born actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson, whose palatial Hacienda Dorada in Nicoya was recently listed for sale, is once again making the rounds of the tabloid and celebrity gossip media. The issue this time involves a falling out between him and Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, whose writing credits include blockbuster films like Flashdance and Basic Instinct -as well as critically panned box-office bombs like Showgirls, and Burn Hollywood Burn.

The story, which has been closely followed by online gossip sites like TMZ, involves a couple of letters written by both Mr. Gibson and Mr. Eszterhas. The letters are scathing and clearly indicate that the two Hollywood power players are at odds with each other. The conflict is over the “tabling” of a celluloid project that Mr. Gibson and Mr. Eszterhas were working on. The project revolved around the story of Judah Maccabee (Judas Maccabeus), an important heroic and religious icon of the Jewish people.

The film project was canned by Warner Brothers earlier this month, mostly on the basis of the script. Mr. Eszterhas insinuated that Mr. Gibson, who is a Roman Catholic, sabotaged the project because of anti-Semitic sentiment. The dispute between the two men played out online, with a lengthy letter by Mr. Eszterhas alleging that while working with Mr. Gibson in Costa Rica, the Lethal Weapon star let out angry and anti-Semitic rants against the late Beatle John Lennon (“he was [expletive] messianic” and “deserved to be shot”), the powerful director of the William Morris Agency, and his former lover Oksana Grigorieva.

Mr. Gibson retorted with his own letter, calling Mr. Eszterhas a liar, but more unsparingly directed at the screenwriter’s lack of talent and skill in coming up with a decent script. Both letters are pretty hurtful.

The Illegal Recordings

Then Mr. Eszterhas told TMZ that the alleged ugly rants by Mr. Gibson are “on tape”, since his teenage son secretly recorded them in his iPhone.

There is an inherent problem with that recording, if it exists and if it was recorded in Costa Rica, presumably in Hacienda Dorada. Article 24 of our Constitution creates what in some common law countries is known as a “reasonable expectation of privacy” for all people in our country. This was ratified by Sala Cuarta (Constitutional Hall) in case number 6776-94, to wit:

“this limitation [against audio recording] can manifest itself in the observation and capturing of images and documents in general, as in the listening and recording of private conversations, and in the distribution or publishing after the fact, without due prior consent from the parties involved.”

Looking at Sala Cuarta’s jurisprudence and the facts as reported in the tabloid media, Mr. Eszterhas and his teenage son may have run afoul of our Constitution during their stay in Costa Rica. Another legal matter to consider is that should Mr. Eszterhas ever file suit against Mr. Gibson in Costa Rica for any reason, he would not be able to present the alleged recordings as evidence.