Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

CA9: City's order to employee to bring stuff out of house was Fourth Amendment violation

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Plaintiff is a city firefighter on medical leave. City officials became suspicious of his leave, and they started investigating, videotaping him buying building supplies, something not within the doctor’s restriction. They came to his house and requested consent to search it to see if the building supplies had been installed. He refused consent. Then they used the threat of firing him for insubordination if he did not bring the stuff out. On this threat, he brought out the stuff he bought to show that he had not installed it, and the investigation ended. He sued over the compelled entry into his home, which the court found violated the Fourth Amendment, but all the defendants but the investigator (not a city official) got qualified immunity...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 11, 2010 (boomark / email).