Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/3/648.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 06:19:05+00:00

Document:
Evelle J. Younger, District Attorney, Harry Wood and Harry B. Sondheim, Deputy District Attorneys, for Petitioner.
The People seek a writ of mandate to require the respondent Superior Court of Los Angeles County to vacate its order made pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5 granting the motion of the real parties in interest (hereinafter referred to as defendants) to suppress evidence identified at the preliminary hearing as People's exhibits 1 through 5.
On November 7, 1968, Police Officer Neal Porter of the Covina Police Department received a telephone call from the landlord of an apartment building located on West Front Street in the City of Covina. In response to the call the officer went to the office of Linda Wilson, the apartment manager. Mrs. Wilson told him that "they were evicting Mr. and Mrs. York from their apartment for being one and a half months late on their rent. ... while they were evicting -- while they were moving the property out, they had found a bowl containing what she thought was marijuana, ..."
Mrs. Wilson invited the officer to enter the apartment "to take a look." Acting upon the apartment manager's express invitation, Officer Porter entered the apartment with Mrs. Wilson. Inside an open hall cupboard Officer Porter saw a bowl containing 27 plastic bags of green leafy material resembling marijuana. In addition Officer Porter observed a water pipe used for smoking, a sifter sitting on top of a glass bowl, a bag containing rubber bands, an empty bag, a packet of brown material, and some green tablets. These items were seized.
At the time Officer Porter entered the apartment all the furniture and furnishings had been removed except for a television set and a figurine which belonged to Mr. and Mrs. York. The bedroom closet was full of clothes. Apartment 17 was rented to Linda York and Dale York on June 20, 1968, on a month to month basis starting June 21, 1968, at the rate of $135 a month. The last payment was made in September. No Payment was received for the month of October or the first seven days of November. The apartment was rented as a furnished apartment. Mrs. Wilson moved the furniture out of apartment 17 because it was needed for one of the other apartments which had been rented as furnished.
Prior to entering the apartment Officer Porter was not shown a "right of possession" nor any "legal papers."
In granting the motion to suppress the respondent court found as a matter of law that the apartment manager did not have lawful authority to consent to the entry of Officer Porter into the apartment. In addition, the respondent court found that "reliance upon apparent authority is lacking here" because of the fact that "this field is well known ... I fail to see where officers would not know of the regular process of evicting tenants."
1. The People contend that the respondent court's holding that Officer Porter had actual knowledge that the landlord had no actual or apparent authority to consent to an entry to look because the officer knew that the tenancy had been illegally terminated is unsupported by the evidence.
2. The owner of an apartment (or his agent) may consent to the entry of an apartment illegally repossessed by the owner.
The facts of this case present a unique problem in the law of consent searches.
Under the facts before us there was no proof of express or implied consent by the defendants to the police to enter and search. Nor was there any evidence that the defendants had expressly or impliedly granted permission to the landlord to enter and search the premises for contraband during the time the defendants had actual or constructive possession of the premises. Therefore we must decide whether the landlord had the authority to grant consent to the police to enter the apartment "to take a look" in the absence of any express or implied permission from Mr. and Mrs. York.
We have not been offered, nor has our research developed any analogous [3 Cal. App. 3d 655] case precedent involving consent to enter to seize contraband previously discovered by a landlord during the physical eviction of a tenant for nonpayment of rent.
In Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 616-618 [5 L. Ed. 2d 828, 833-834, 81 S. Ct. 776], the United States Supreme Court ruled that a landlord does not retain the right to enter rented premises for the purpose of conducting a search during the term of the tenancy although the tenant may be temporarily absent, nor does the landlord have the authority to grant consent to the police to enter and to search.
In Chapman v. United States, supra, the landlord gave consent to the police to enter and search at a time when the tenant was in possession of the premises, although temporarily absent from the premises. The government attempted to justify the entry, search and seizure without a search warrant on the grounds that a landlord has the right to enter to view waste, therefore he can exercise this right through law enforcement officers to whom he delegated this authority. The Supreme Court rejected this argument in the following language: "There are several answers to this contention. First, here the landlord and the officers forced open a window to gain entry to the premises. Second, 'their purpose in entering was [not to view waste but] to search for distilling equipment ....' Jones v. United States, supra (357 U.S. at 500). Third, to uphold such an entry, search and seizure 'without a warrant would reduce the [Fourth] Amendment to a nullity and leave [tenants'] homes secure only in the discretion of [landlords].' Johnson v. United States, supra (333 U.S. at 14). Moreover, 'it is unnecessary and ill-advised to import into the law surrounding the constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures subtle distinctions, developed and refined by the common law in evolving the body of private property law which, more than almost any other branch of law, has been shaped by distinctions whose validity is largely historical. ... [W]e ought not to bow to them in the fair administration of the criminal law. To do so would not comport with our justly proud claim of the procedural protections accorded to those charged with crime.' Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 266, 267, 4 L ed 2d 697, 80 S Ct 725, 78 ALR2d 233.
In Chapman the tenant was in possession at the time the landlord and the police forcibly entered the rented premises. The Supreme Court in the quoted language points out that no steps had been taken by the landlord to end the tenancy. In the case before us the landlord took aggressive steps to end the tenancy of the defendants by removing all the furniture from the furnished apartment except for a television set and an art object. From the record before us we do not know what legal action to terminate the tenancy was taken by the landlord since the defendants successfully foreclosed questioning concerning the procedural steps taken by the landlord to effect a lawful eviction for nonpayment of rent by convincing the magistrate that "All this information about notice to pay rent or quit is pretty immaterial." In analyzing the rule of the Chapman case the following facts should be noted: (1) the tenant was in undisputed possession of the premises at the time of the entry; (2) the police and the landlord forcibly entered the premises by breaking a window; (3) no evidence was offered that the landlord believed that he had exclusive joint control of the premises or that the police, under the circumstances, reasonably and in good faith, believed that the landlord had the authority to consent to the entry and search.
In Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483 [11 L. Ed. 2d 856, 84 S. Ct. 889], the Supreme Court held that the Chapman rule applied to a purported consent to enter and search granted to the police by a hotel proprietor to a hotel guest temporarily absent from his room. The Supreme Court in Stoner also rejected the argument that the search was reasonable "because the police, relying upon the night clerk's expressions of consent, had a reasonable basis for the belief that the clerk had authority to consent to the search." (Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483, 488 [11 L. Ed. 2d 856, 860, 84 S. Ct. 889].) From the evidence before it the Supreme Court concluded: "But there is nothing in the record to indicate that the police had any basis whatsoever to believe that the night clerk had been authorized by the petitioner to permit the police to search the petitioner's room.
From the foregoing language, it would appear that the Supreme Court has found, as a matter of law, that in view of Chapman, supra, Lustig, supra, Jeffers, supra, and Stoner, supra, reliance on a landlord's consent to enter and search premises known by the officer to be in the possession of the tenant is not reasonable.
The instant case is clearly distinguishable from the facts which gave rise to the Chapman and Stoner decisions.
1. At the time consent to enter and search was granted to the police officer, the landlord had in fact evicted the defendants and thus had removed them from possession of the premises. The landlord had taken exclusive possession of the premises by the use of force, or self help.
2. The discovery of the marijuana occurred during the original entry by the landlord to remove the furniture. The police were not made aware of the existence of the marijuana in the apartment or that the physical eviction had occurred until the landlord had acted.
3. There is nothing in the record to indicate, nor is it contended by the People, that the police believed that the landlord was authorized by Mr. and Mrs. York to permit the police to enter the apartment. From the record before us, the landlord appeared to be in exclusive possession of the premises at the time the police arrived as the result of the eviction of the defendants. At the time consent was granted to the police officer to enter and look the only person who appeared to be capable of granting consent was the landlord, at least until the tenants were able to obtain a court order restoring them to possession, if the tenants elected to seek such relief.
 It is our view that at least for purposes of the Fourth Amendment a landlord who has evicted his tenant for nonpayment of rent has the authority to consent to an entry by the police into the permises in order to seize contraband discovered by the landlord in the course of the eviction.
We believe this case also comes within the doctrine of People v. Gorg, 45 Cal. 2d 776, 783 [291 P.2d 469]. In Gorg, the California Supreme Court held that a search is not unreasonable if made with the consent of a third party whom the police reasonably and in good faith believe has authority to consent to their search. (See People v. Smith, 63 Cal. 2d 779, [3 Cal. App. 3d 658] 799 [48 Cal. Rptr. 382, 409 P.2d 222]; People v. Caritativo, 46 Cal. 2d 68, 72-73 [292 P.2d 513].) The rule of the Gorg case has been reaffirmed by the California Supreme Court since the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, in Chapman, supra, and Stoner, supra. (See People v. Hill, 69 Cal. 2d 550, 554-555 [72 Cal. Rptr. 641], certiorari granted, 396 U.S. 818 [24 L. Ed. 2d 68, 90 S. Ct. 112]; see also People v. McGrew, 1 Cal. 3d 404, 412, 413 [82 Cal. Rptr. 473, 462 P.2d 1].) [1b] The uncontroverted evidence established that the officer had a reasonable and good faith belief that the landlord had the actual authority to consent to the entry of the apartment and to the seizure of the marijuana because of the eviction of Mr. and Mrs. York.
The real parties in interest contend that the police officer had a duty to ascertain the legality of the alleged eviction before acting on the consent of the landlord. We disagree. If the evidence showed that the officer had actual knowledge that the eviction of Mr. and Mrs. York was illegal under landlord and tenancy law it might be argued that he did not have an honest belief that the landlord had actual authority to grant consent to enter and search. However, there is no evidence in the record that the police officer knew the eviction was unlawful.
Although the record is not completely clear, the trial court apparently concluded that a police officer is presumed to know the law relative to the proper procedures to be followed in effecting a lawful eviction. Even if we assume that a police officer is presumed to know the law relative to the eviction of tenants for nonpayment of rent, there is no evidence in the record that the officer in this matter was aware that the landlord had failed to follow the law.
We have concluded that a landlord who physically evicts a tenant for nonpayment of rent by removing the furniture from a furnished apartment has taken actual possession of the premises to the extent that he can authorize the police to enter and seize contraband the existence of which has been exposed in removing the furniture.
It should be noted that the landlord did not purport to grant consent to search the personal property of Mr. and Mrs. York nor is there any evidence that any of the suppressed items were discovered as the result of a police search. The police were merely authorized to "enter to look" at what appeared to be the marijuana.
In the instant matter the privacy of Mr. and Mrs. York was not forcefully invaded by the police but by an indignant landlord intent on ending their tenancy because of nonpayment of rent.
At the time the landlord removed the furniture and seized possession of the rental premises he did not act as an agent of the police. The police were not called until the marijuana was discovered.  The protection of the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures applies only to governmental action. It is not a restraint against unreasonable searches and seizures by private persons not acting under the direction and control of a law enforcement officer. (Burdeau v. McDowell, 256 U.S. 465, 475 [65 L. Ed. 1048, 1050, 41 S. Ct. 574, 13 A.L.R. 1159].) In Burdeau a private citizen seized the private office occupied by McDowell and took certain private papers after blowing open two safes. Certain of the private papers were turned over to the Department of Justice. The Supreme Court reversed an order of the trial judge requiring the government to return the private papers in the following language: "The Fourth Amendment gives protection against unlawful searches and seizures, and as shown in the previous cases, its protection applies to governmental action. Its origin and history clearly show that it was intended as a restraint upon the activities of sovereign authority, and was not intended to be a limitation upon other than governmental agencies; as against such authority it was the purpose of the Fourth Amendment to secure the citizen in the right of unmolested occupation of his dwelling and the possession of his property, subject to the right of seizure by process duly issued.
 The trial court erred in granting the motion to suppress.
The petition for a peremptory writ of mandate is granted.
FN 1. By stipulation, the trial judge based his determination of the facts in support of his order upon the testimony set forth in the transcript of the preliminary hearing.
FN 2. In summarizing the basis for his decision the trial judge stated: "Once the apartment dwellers, the tenants are in actual occupancy, they can only be evicted by legal process, which was not employed here; but Mr. Poirier [the prosecutor] speaks of apparent authority, and there are cases where apparent authority sometimes takes the place of actual authority; but I am persuaded by Mr. Trope [Defense Counsel for Dale York] that this field is well-known, and reliance upon apparent authority is lacking here.
"I fail to see where officers would not know of the regular process of evicting tenants, and I would say that there was no actual reliance; ..." In order to clarify the foregoing statement the prosecutor asked the trial judge to "state whether the decision is based on the law or any credibility problems of the witnesses?" The trial judge replied "No, strictly on the law. There are no crediblity problems here, and I am relying on the briefs of Mr. Trope and the cases of Stoner vs. California, and, as cited by him, also McDonald vs. United States and Chapman vs. United States, and I rely upon those authorties."

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.