Opinion ID: 785658
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Illegal Seizure Claim and Defendants' Failure to Return All of Plaintiff's Personal Effects

Text: 30 Shaul alleges that defendants' failure to return certain items removed from his classroom — two laser pointers, athletic memorabilia, books, personal letters, mementos, tests, quizzes, and homework problems — constitute an unreasonable seizure separate and distinct from that occurring on January 30, 1999. The district court rejected this claim, concluding that Shaul had no possessory interest in these items. 31 Given Shaul's assertion that he protested being forced to leave the classroom on January 29, 1999, without retrieving all his belongings, we cannot agree that, as a matter of law, he lost all possessory interest in any personal effects removed by defendants the following day. Certainly, defendants do not suggest that they were entitled to retain Shaul's personal possessions removed from the classroom on January 30th. Indeed, they submit that numerous boxes of such items were returned to him on February 19th. They do, however, challenge Shaul's claim to a possessory interest in teaching materials, asserting that such items were prepared for and, therefore, owned solely by the School District.
32 Shaul argues that the tests, quizzes, and homework problems stored in the classroom — never returned to him and presumably discarded — were illegally seized by defendants in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. A seizure occurs when there is some meaningful interference with an individual's possessory interest in that property. United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109, 113, 104 S.Ct. 1652, 80 L.Ed.2d 85 (1984). The district court held that Shaul did not have a possessory interest in the teaching materials, thereby rejecting plaintiff's illegal seizure claim. We agree that Shaul had no possessory interest in teaching materials that he prepared in the course of his employment in his capacity as an employee of the School District. Thus, the School District's removal of such materials from a classroom after Shaul's suspension cannot be deemed an unreasonable seizure. 33 The Copyright Act of 1976 provides that copyright ownership vests initially in the author or authors of the work. 17 U.S.C. § 201(a) (1996). The author of a given work is the person who translates an idea into a fixed, tangible expression entitled to copyright protection. Community For Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730, 737, 109 S.Ct. 2166, 104 L.Ed.2d 811 (citing 17 U.S.C. § 102). It is clear here — and is not contested by defendants — that Shaul is the creator of the teaching materials in question. The Act, however, contains an important exception for work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment. 17 U.S.C. § 101 (1996). Under this work-for-hire exception, [t]he employer ... is considered the author ... and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all the rights comprised in the copyright. 17 U.S.C. § 201(b). 34 In the instant case, defendants argue that the work-for-hire exception applies since Shaul was employed by the School District and was required to prepare the teaching materials in his official duties as a teacher. Therefore, the School District should be considered the author and owner of the tests, quizzes, and homework problems prepared by Shaul. 35 Plaintiff concedes that he was an employee as defined under the work-for-hire exception, as found by the district court. In the absence of a written agreement stipulating otherwise, the key issue, therefore, is whether the materials in question were prepared within the scope of employment. See Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Inc. v. Otsar Sifrei Lubavitch, Inc. 312 F.3d 94, 98 (2d Cir.2002). Shaul offers a three-prong test, based on the common law of agency, for determining if an employee's conduct is within the scope of his employment: (1) It is of the kind of work he is employed to perform; (2) It occurs substantially within authorized work hours; (3) It is actuated, at least in part, by a purpose to serve the employer. Restatement (Second) of Agency § 228 (1958); see also Reid, 490 U.S. at 751-52, 109 S.Ct. 2166. 36 Shaul erroneously relies on City of Newark v. Beasley, 883 F.Supp. 3 (D.N.J.1995) to argue that his preparation of teaching materials falls outside the scope of his employment. It is clear that preparing materials for class was the kind of work that he was employed to perform as a teacher (satisfying the first prong) and that Shaul was motivated to spend the time to prepare materials for class in order to fulfill his duties as a teacher (satisfying the third prong), regardless of his purported desire to publish the materials. With respect to the second prong, the instant case is distinguishable from Beasley, in which a police officer deliberately worked on an educational program at home for the express purpose of retaining ownership of the materials. See id. at 6. Here, the very nature of a teacher's duties involves a substantial amount of time outside of class devoted to preparing lessons, problem sets, and quizzes and tests — which is clearly within the scope of his employment. 37 The plaintiff also seeks to invoke an academic exception to the work-for-hire doctrine. See Weinstein v. University of Illinois, 811 F.2d 1091 (7th Cir.1987). However, unlike the university employer in Weinstein, the School District in the instant case does not have a formal and written policy concerning work produced by teachers. Furthermore, the academic tradition granting authors ownership of their own scholarly work is not pertinent to teaching materials that were never explicitly prepared for publication by Shaul, as opposed to published articles by university professors. Cf. id. at 1094. 38 Without denigrating in any way the time and effort devoted by Shaul in fulfilling his teaching duties, we hold that his ownership of the tests, quizzes, homework problems, and other teaching materials in his former classroom is precluded by the work-for-hire doctrine. Because the teaching materials at issue were owned by the School District, it was free to entrust its employee Shaul with some degree of possession or to withdraw that possession in its entirety as it deemed in its best interest. Its decision to reclaim all possession after Shaul's suspension and not to return teaching materials to him cannot support a claim of unreasonable seizure.
39 Shaul does not dispute that on February 19, 1999, defendants returned to him boxes of personal items removed from his former classroom on January 30th. Rather, he complains that certain items were missing therefrom and that defendants' failure to return these items constitutes an unreasonable seizure of them. 40 Where, as in this case, an initial seizure of property was reasonable, defendants' failure to return the items does not, by itself, state a separate Fourth Amendment claim of unreasonable seizure. In United States v. Jakobetz, 955 F.2d 786, 802 (2d Cir.1992), in which a defendant sought to suppress lawfully procured photographs that law enforcement authorities had retained beyond the time permitted by state law, this Circuit concluded that a seizure claim based on the unlawful retention was too novel a theory to warrant Fourth Amendment protection. See also Lee v. City of Chicago, 330 F.3d 456, 461-65 (7th Cir.2003) (holding that where property was lawfully seized by government, plaintiff could not bring a Fourth Amendment unreasonable seizure claim to challenge the conditions imposed on the property's return, although other legal remedies for return might be available); Fox v. Van Oosterum, 176 F.3d 342, 349-52 (6th Cir.1999) (holding that an unreasonable refusal to return property does not state a Fourth Amendment seizure claim where the original taking was lawful). To the extent the Constitution affords Shaul any right with respect to a government agency's retention of lawfully seized property, it would appear to be procedural due process. See e.g., United States v. David, 131 F.3d 55, 59 (2d Cir. 1997) (entertaining due process challenge to government delay in forfeiting or returning seized property). But Shaul does not pursue such a claim and, indeed, could not because he has failed to adduce any evidence that the government's inability to return his property was due to anything other than negligent maintenance. It is well established that mere negligence is insufficient as a matter of law to state a due process violation. See Poe v. Leonard, 282 F.3d 123, 145 (2d Cir.2002); see also Davidson v. Cannon, 474 U.S. 344, 347-48, 106 S.Ct. 668, 88 L.Ed.2d 677 (1986). Accordingly, we agree with the district court that summary judgment was properly entered in favor of defendants on Shaul's claim of a second unreasonable seizure.