Opinion ID: 693416
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Doris Paskewitz

Text: 16 The district court concluded that Paskewitz was entitled to qualified immunity because she was acting within her discretion as a guardian ad litem, and that the Lenzes failed to establish that helping a child select items for her use violates the Fourth Amendment. The Lenzes contend that the law was clearly established that Paskewitz's actions violated the Fourth Amendment. However, we need not reach the question whether any Fourth Amendment right was clearly established because we conclude that Paskewitz failed to show that she was acting within her discretionary authority. Paskewitz is thus not entitled to qualified immunity. See Jordan v. Doe, 38 F.3d 1559, 1565 (11th Cir.1994). Since we determine that Paskewitz merits no qualified immunity, we must address the district court's holding that the Fourth Amendment does not forbid Paskewitz's conduct. 3 Although we differ in our reasons, we agree that Paskewitz did not violate the Lenzes' Fourth Amendment rights. We accordingly affirm the summary judgment.
17 [G]overnment officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982) (emphasis added). This circuit uses a two-step analysis to determine whether qualified immunity is available. First, the defendant must show that she acted within the scope of her discretionary authority. Jordan, 38 F.3d at 1565; Ziegler v. Jackson, 716 F.2d 847, 849 (11th Cir.1983). Once the defendant has so shown, the plaintiff must show that the defendant violated the plaintiff's clearly established statutory or constitutional rights. Id. A government official acts within her discretionary authority if the actions were (1) undertaken pursuant to the performance of [her] duties and (2) within the scope of [her] authority. Rich v. Dollar, 841 F.2d 1558, 1564 (11th Cir.1988). 18 Paskewitz has not shown that her actions at the Lenzes' house were within the scope of her authority under Florida law. In Florida, judges may appoint guardians ad litem in marriage dissolution, custody, and similar proceedings to act as next friend of the child, investigator or evaluator.... Fla.Stat.Ann. Sec. 61.401 (West Supp.1995). Section 61.403 of the Florida Statutes provides a nonexclusive list of the guardian's duties. 4 Although the list is nonexclusive, every included duty is judicially related: the guardian has authority to investigate the pleadings, compel discovery, request expert examinations, make statements to the court, and file motions. The list includes no duty to counsel, shelter, or care for the child directly. 19 The Florida Guardian ad Litem Program training manual likewise emphasizes the guardian's judicial rather than caretaking role: 20 Without the court's permission, you have no status or function. You should understand that your duties are both temporary and limited in scope.... You must realize that the judge appoints you guardian ad litem. You are not the child's legal guardian or trustee. You have no power over the child's person or property. You have no right to interfere with the child's person or property. 21 Florida Guardian ad Litem Program, Manual for Volunteers 11 (n. d.) (R2-85-exh.1). The Program's list of the guardian's duties similarly excludes nonjudicial functions. Although the guardian is expected to be a monitor and protector, the training manual's description of these roles mentions only the guardian's interaction with other state officials concerned with the child. For instance, as a monitor the guardian ad litem must determine if the child needs counseling or medical tests; if so, the guardian can't provide these services [her]self, [but] can continue to monitor the situation and make sure the persons responsible are accomplishing their tasks. Id. at 8. As protector, the guardian sees that the child's physical, psychological, developmental and legal needs are met. Id. However, the guardian does so by keep[ing] the case on track, prodding, pushing, reminding, in short, speaking out, until the system effectively meets the child's best interest. Id. The statute and the Guardian ad Litem Program's own interpretation of the statute both describe the guardian as the child's legal representative, not as the child's caretaker or guardian. The guardian's duty to act in the child's best interest requires the guardian to act only in the child's best legal interest. 22 Paskewitz may have acted as a compassionate and decent person in deciding to provide support and a neutral presence at the Lenzes' as Desirae underwent a traumatic experience, (R.2-75-exh.B p T), but she acted outside the scope of her authority as Desirae's guardian ad litem. In being present for Desirae, she was directly providing comfort rather than using her status as an appointed officer of the court to urge the system to look after Desirae. Neither Florida statutes nor the training manuals of the Guardian ad Litem Program require a guardian to care directly for the child. Paskewitz therefore went beyond the call of duty. 23 Because Paskewitz acted outside the scope of her authority, she is not entitled to qualified immunity. 5 Rich, 841 F.2d at 1564. We therefore must reach the merits of the Lenzes' Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment claims against her.
24 The Fourth Amendment, as applied to the states by way of the Fourteenth, Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 30, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 1628, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963), protects [t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const. amend. 4. The Lenzes apparently base their Fourth Amendment claim on three of Paskewitz's actions: her warrantless entry into their house, her search of Desirae's belongings, and the alleged seizure of the cash and the answering machine. 6 As to the third basis, we find no issue of material fact as to whether Paskewitz took any property. The Lenzes, who were present, testified that they did not see Paskewitz remove anything from the house, and Paskewitz denies having done so. We therefore affirm summary judgment as to the seizure claim. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Below, we consider only whether Paskewitz's entry and her selection of Desirae's clothing were searches violative of the Fourth Amendment. 25 A preliminary issue in this unusual case is whether Paskewitz's conduct implicated the Fourth Amendment at all. 7 The district court concluded that the Lenzes had stated no Fourth Amendment claim against Paskewitz because her conduct was not motivated by an investigative purpose. (R.5-164-8.) However, as the Supreme Court has explained, the right against unreasonable seizures would be no less transgressed if the seizure ... was undertaken to collect evidence, verify compliance with a housing regulation, effect an eviction by the police, or on a whim, for no reason at all. Soldal v. Cook County, Ill., --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 538, 548, 121 L.Ed.2d 450 (1992). We perceive no reason, and Paskewitz advances none, that the Fourth Amendment's protection against invasions of privacy should be any more circumscribed than its protection of the property interest at issue in Soldal. We conclude thus that the language of Soldal is equally applicable to this case. Consequently, even though Paskewitz looked through Desirae's clothes out of concern for Desirae's comfort and not as part of any investigation, the search falls within the ambit of the Fourth Amendment. 26
27 Once within that ambit, Paskewitz infringed upon a reasonable expectation of privacy when she entered the Lenzes' house. Citizens' security in their houses lies at the core of the Fourth Amendment. Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505, 511, 81 S.Ct. 679, 683, 5 L.Ed.2d 734 (1961). However, Paskewitz contends, correctly in our opinion, that Desirae consented to the entry. 8 Valid consent legitimates an otherwise unconstitutional search. E.g., Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 222, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2045, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). Anyone who possesse[s] common authority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises or effects sought to be inspected may consent to the search of another's property. United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 171, 94 S.Ct. 988, 993, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974). 28 The authority which justifies the third-party consent does not rest upon the law of property ... but rests rather on mutual use of the property by persons generally having joint access or control for most purposes, so that it is reasonable to recognize that any of the co-inhabitants has the right to permit the inspection in his own right and that the others have assumed the risk that one of their number might permit the common area to be searched. 29 Id. n. 7. Matlock's third-party consent rule applies even when a present subject of the search objects. See, e.g., United States v. Donlin, 982 F.2d 31, 33 (1st Cir.1992); United States v. Childs, 944 F.2d 491, 495 (9th Cir.1991); J.L. Foti Constr. Co. v. Donovan, 786 F.2d 714, 717 (6th Cir.1986); Donovan v. A.A. Beiro Constr. Co., 746 F.2d 894, 899 n. 4 (D.C.Cir.1984); United States v. Baldwin, 644 F.2d 381, 383 (5th Cir. Unit A 1981); United States v. Bethea, 598 F.2d 331, 335 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 860, 100 S.Ct. 124, 62 L.Ed.2d 81 (1979). 30 To our knowledge, no federal court of appeals has yet explicitly addressed the capacity of minors to give third-party consent. 9 We hold that minors may so consent. Fourth Amendment rights, unlike rights attendant to due process, do not guarantee a fair and impartial determination of truth; rather, they protect the interest of the citizen to be let alone. Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 242, 93 S.Ct. at 2056 (quoting Tehan v. United States ex rel. Shott, 382 U.S. 406, 416, 86 S.Ct. 459, 465, 15 L.Ed.2d 453 (1966)). Thus, the subject of a Fourth Amendment-violative search need not be aware of her right to refuse to give knowing and voluntary consent. Id. at 249, 93 S.Ct. at 2059. However, the circumstances surrounding the consent must demonstrate that it was voluntarily given, free of duress or coercion. Id. 31 Four reasons support our holding that minors may give third-party consent. First, privacy is an intuitive interest, and legal sophistication is not required even for adults to give valid consent. Id. Hence, minors need not necessarily be presumed incapable of knowing consent. Second, the list of factual considerations bearing upon the voluntariness of the consent is open-ended. See id. The youth of the consenter, with its attendant vulnerability to coercion, is certainly among them. Cf. Haley v. Ohio, 332 U.S. 596, 600, 68 S.Ct. 302, 304, 92 L.Ed. 224 (1948). This individualized assessment obviates the need for a categorical rule to protect subjects of searches from subtle coercive tactics to secure a minor's consent. Third, consent searches serve a legitimate purpose that is properly balanced against the cost of limiting a minor's ability to consent. See Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 228-29, 93 S.Ct. at 2048-49. This balancing counsels against a bright-line rule prohibiting minor consent. Finally, the rationale behind third-party consent involves no notion of agency. Rather, the third-party consent rule recognizes that sharing space with another lessens the expectation of privacy in that space. See J.L. Foti Constr. Co., 786 F.2d at 717. This compromise of the expectation of privacy is no less the case for a minor co-occupant than for an adult. 32 In this case, the summary judgment record shows that there is no dispute about Desirae's authority to consent to Paskewitz's entry into the house. Desirae effectively resided with the Lenzes, because the duplex in which the Lenzes and Desirae lived had been made one house. Desirae had free access to the living room; indeed, Donald testified that [a]nything in that house is Mickey's [Desirae's] and as far as I'm concerned including the house. (Donald Lenz Dep. at 109.) This undisputed evidence of shared residence and access establishes Desirae's authority to consent. Cf. United States v. De Parias, 805 F.2d 1447, 1458 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 916, 107 S.Ct. 3189, 96 L.Ed.2d 678 (1987). 33 Furthermore, no fact issue remains whether Desirae consented to Paskewitz's entry. All parties agree that Desirae entered the living room with Paskewitz, and Donald testified that Desirae and Paskewitz entered holding hands. Although the parties dispute whether Desirae was upset or not at the time, no evidence indicates that Paskewitz or Winburn in any way coerced Desirae into admitting them into the house. Nor does any evidence suggest that in the circumstances a child of Desirae's age would have felt coerced into letting Paskewitz enter to assist in selecting clothes. The undisputed evidence of conduct indicating consent and the absence of any evidence of coercion or duress eliminate any fact issue as to valid consent. Summary judgment was thus appropriate for Paskewitz on the claim based on her entry into the Lenzes' house. 34
35 Paskewitz is also entitled to summary judgment on the claim against her for searching Desirae's belongings, but for a different reason. To benefit from the Fourth Amendment, the Lenzes must show that they have a  'constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy'  in the object of the alleged search. Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170, 177, 104 S.Ct. 1735, 1740-41, 80 L.Ed.2d 214 (1984) (quoting Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 360, 88 S.Ct. 507, 516, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967) (Harlan, J., concurring)). Fourth Amendment rights are personal and may not be vicariously asserted. Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 133, 99 S.Ct. 421, 425, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978). Thus, in a variety of circumstances, courts have held that a person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in another's belongings. See, e.g., id. at 148-49, 99 S.Ct. at 433 (no standing to object to the search of another's car); United States v. Bella, 605 F.2d 160, 161 (5th Cir.1979) (no standing to complain of search of a companion's luggage); People v. Rielly, 190 A.D.2d 695, 593 N.Y.S.2d 275, 277 (App.Div.1993) (defendant had no standing to object to search of his son's schoolbag). This is true even when the person claiming the Fourth Amendment right has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the premises where the other's property was found. 10 See Bella, 605 F.2d at 161 (holding that defendant had no standing to object to a search of his companion's luggage, which had been seized from the trunk of the defendant's car). 36 The summary judgment record at best suggests only that Paskewitz searched Desirae's closet and bedroom. It does not appear from the record that the closet was used by anyone but Desirae. Neither do the Lenzes claim any personal rights by virtue of their care for Desirae. Thus, the Lenzes base their illegal search claim against Paskewitz solely on Paskewitz's compromise of Desirae's privacy interest and not on any violation of their own privacy interests. The Lenzes do not contend that Desirae's youth should distinguish this case from other cases in which individuals were found to lack standing to challenge the search of another's property. We therefore conclude that the Lenzes lack standing to claim that Paskewitz violated their Fourth Amendment rights in her search of Desirae's belongings. Summary judgment in Paskewitz's favor was appropriate on this claim.