I think the reason that there hasn't been suit before is that this evidence is rarely used in trial. If you plead out, I think unless you expressly retain the right, you cannot sue for violations of your civil rights. In cases like this the DA wouldn't allow that. Because the deck is stacked in the DA's favor at trial even someone who has had their rights violated is better off taking pleading out. People won't risk challenging this from jail until they die to make a point, instead they will take a lesser punishment.
True enough. I hope that NBC does not settle this suit and that the facts can come out at trial. I will be interested to see how this effects future TCAP episodes, and if this suit results in a future "class action" suit against NBC, or at least other indiviual suits if it can be proven that Dateline was not always above board in the gathering of its evidence.