Court Opinion

ID: 9693631
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:53:46.88244+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:49.163847
License: Public Domain

Shea, J.
(dissenting). In my view the majority opinion constitutes a wholly unwarranted and unprecedented application of the fourth amendment which serves as a kind of reductio ad absur-dum to denigrate its salutary purpose. The opinion completely overlooks the legitimate interest of a landlord, whose building has been the subject of a suspected arson, in enlisting the aid of the police for the purpose of determining the cause of the conflagration, despite unambiguous lease provisions providing him a right of access in such an event.
Under the terms of the lease the landlord had a general right to enter the premises in order to inspect them and also to make necessary repairs. He also had a more specific right to enter and repair in the event of a fire. These provisions must be construed to authorize the landlord to inspect the premises for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of a fire before proceeding to repair the damage caused by the fire. Whether the suspected cause was defective wiring or arson by the tenant, the landlord would have a sufficient interest in the protection of his property to justify an investigation for the purpose of determining the origin of the fire. Since the landlord had such a right to *257enter in order to find ont the cause of the fire, he could authorize others, including the police, to do the same thing. If the tenant could not stop the landlord from making such an investigation, he had no right to object to the same investigation when it was conducted by the police under authority from the landlord.
The difference between this case and the cases involving permission of the owner to enter a hotel room or other premises occupied by another is that here the owner had an interest based upon his status as a landlord in determining the cause of the fire and a right of entry reserved in the lease broad enough to entitle him to do so. These circumstances negate any reasonable expectation of privacy on the part of the tenant.
The case is similar to United States v. Botsch, 364 F.2d 542 (2d Cir. 1966), where a landlord, who had been an unwitting accomplice in a fraudulent scheme utilizing the mails, invited postal inspectors to search a shanty which he had leased to the defendant. It was held that his interest in clearing himself from the taint of suspicion, which had been cast upon him because of his innocent participation in the cunning swindle concocted by the defendant, authorized him to allow the search. Id., 547-48. Here also the landlord had a legitimate interest in ascertaining the cause of the fire and, in addition, an express right of entry broad enough to authorize him to make an investigation for that purpose. Since the search conducted by the police did not exceed the scope of the authority vested in the landlord who had consented thereto, it was not unreasonable and did not violate the rights of the defendant under the fourth amendment.