Opinion ID: 179127
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the District Court Erred in Denying Defendant Balinski's Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law, Either Because the Search Warrant Was Supported by Probable Cause, or Because Defendant Balinski is Entitled to Qualified Immunity

Text: On appeal, Defendant maintains that the warrant was supported by probable cause. The Fourth Amendment provides that no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. U.S. Const. amend. IV. In determining whether probable cause exists to support a search warrant, the magistrate asks whether given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit ... there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). The affidavit must establish a nexus between the place to be searched and things to be seized, such that there is a substantial basis to believe that the things to be seized will be found in the place searched. United States v. Carpenter, 360 F.3d 591, 594-95 (6th Cir.2004) (en banc). Review of the sufficiency of evidence supporting the probable cause determination is limited to the information contained in the four corners of the affidavit. United States v. Berry, 565 F.3d 332, 338 (6th Cir.2009). As an initial matter, it is unclear from the face of the affidavit prepared by Defendant exactly what crime was being investigated, much less what crime she had probable cause to suspect had occurred. The sole clue in the affidavit is Defendant's reference to her investigation of the fraud complaint made by the Harrises. As the district court recognized in denying Defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law, most of the information contained in the affidavit concerns an investigation of whether Asia Thomas owned the property rented to the Harrises. But on appeal, Defendant appears to argue, as she did in her deposition and in her testimony at trial, that the subject of the investigation was mortgage fraud, and Defendant had probable cause to believe evidence of that crime would be found at Plaintiff's residence. However, Defendant in her affidavit made no mention of mortgages whatsoever, and specifically mentioned that she had been unable to obtain any information regarding loans or title companies for either property. Without any information about mortgages on the properties, it is difficult to imagine how Defendant believed she had probable cause to suspect mortgage fraud had occurred. Seemingly retreating from the mortgage fraud rationale at another point in her brief on appeal, Defendant also argues that [t]he reality is that there are any number of variations of fraud and Investigator Balinski could not know what type of fraud she may have been dealing with unless she had evidence. Defendant appears to be making the startling suggestion that the mere suspicion that some vaguely specified crime has occurred makes constitutional a search of an unsuspecting citizen's entire home. It is difficult, to say the least, to square this contention with the history of the Fourth Amendment, which was enacted in part to curb the abuses of general warrants, devices which provided British officers with broad discretion to search the homes of citizens of the Colonies for evidence of vaguely specified crimes. See Steagald v. United States, 451 U.S. 204, 220, 101 S.Ct. 1642, 68 L.Ed.2d 38 (1981) (discussing the history of the Fourth Amendment); Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 625-30, 6 S.Ct. 524, 29 L.Ed. 746 (1886) (same). In any case, even assuming the existence of probable cause as to the occurrence of a crime, the affidavit failed entirely to establish a nexus between the material to be seized and the place to be searched. The affidavit did not state how Defendant came to know that MyaBrooke Properties was located at the residence, or, more critically, why documentation of an allegedly fraudulent mortgage might with a fair probability be found there. Given these rather stark defects in the affidavit, a reasonable jury could conclude that Defendant lacked probable cause when she applied for the warrant to search Plaintiff's residence. Defendant urges that, even if a Fourth Amendment violation did occur, the district court erred in its determination that qualified immunity did not apply. Qualified immunity protects government officials from civil liability in the course of performing discretionary functions unless they violate clearly established constitutional rights. Morrison v. Board of Trustees, 583 F.3d 394, 400 (6th Cir.2009). An official enjoys qualified immunity as a matter of law unless the facts alleged would permit a reasonable juror to find that (1) the defendant violated a constitutional right, and (2) the right was clearly established. Id. As discussed above, sufficient evidence was introduced to permit a reasonable juror to find that Defendant violated Plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights in applying for and executing a warrant based on an affidavit failing to establish probable cause. As to whether the right was clearly established, the Supreme Court has framed this inquiry as whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). While police generally are entitled to rely on a judicially secured warrant for immunity from liability for unconstitutional searches, qualified immunity is not appropriate where the warrant application is so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence unreasonable. Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 344-45, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986); see also Mills v. City of Barbourville, 389 F.3d 568, 577 (6th Cir.2004). Here, a jury could reasonably determine that this affidavitmentioning no specific crimes thought probably committed, making no link between Plaintiff's residence and any crime, yet seeking broad authority for a search of Plaintiff's entire residence for any document pertaining to Plaintiffwas so lacking in indicia of probable cause to render Defendant's belief in its existence objectively unreasonable. Accordingly, the district court was correct to deny Defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law.