Court Opinion

ID: 9962096
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-22 19:01:08.067403+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:19:50.207491
License: Public Domain

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
                                File Name: 24a0178n.06

                                        Case No. 23-1641

                          UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                                 FILED
                               FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT                                Apr 22, 2024
                                                                            KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk
                                                       )
 FRANCIS X. BERKEMEIER, et al.,
                                                       )
        Plaintiffs-Appellants,                         )     ON APPEAL FROM THE
                                                       )     UNITED STATES DISTRICT
                v.                                     )     COURT FOR THE EASTERN
                                                       )     DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
 CITY OF JACKSON, MICHIGAN, et al.,                    )
       Defendants-Appellees.                           )                                 OPINION
 _______________________________________               )

Before: BATCHELDER, THAPAR, and MATHIS, Circuit Judges.

       ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. The City of Jackson, Michigan, has a

municipal ordinance that requires owners of non-owner-occupied residential properties to register

their properties, submit to inspections, and comply with habitability standards.         As for the

inspections, the ordinance authorizes certain City officials to conduct inspections at a reasonable

time and in a reasonable manner. Specifically, in a nonemergency situation in which the owner

or occupant of the subject property does not consent to inspection of the premises, the inspecting

official must obtain an administrative warrant from a court of competent jurisdiction.

       On about June 6, 2019, a City official affixed a notice to the door of Francis and Janet

Berkemeier’s property, alerting them that the City intended to conduct an inspection on June 17,

and explaining that unless the Berkemeiers consented, inspectors and police officers would enter

the property under authority of an administrative search warrant. The Berkemeiers did not

consent and on June 17, a City attorney obtained and executed an administrative search warrant.
No. 23-1641, Berkemeier v. City of Jackson, Mich.

       The Berkemeiers sued the City and several City employees, claiming that the ordinance

violates the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution, both on its face and as applied to

them. The defendants moved for summary judgment on the basis that an inspection conducted

pursuant to a properly obtained administrative search warrant does not violate the Fourth or Fifth

Amendments, nor had the Berkemeiers stated any other viable claims. The district court agreed.

Berkemeier v. City of Jackson, No. 19-12132, 2021 WL 9563331 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 20, 2021)

(magistrate judge’s R&R); 2022 WL 4378687 (Sept. 22, 2022) (adopting the R&R); 2023 WL

3973603 (June 13, 2023) (denying reconsideration). The Berkemeiers appeal.

       After carefully reviewing the law, the parties’ arguments, and the record evidence, we

conclude that the district court correctly assessed the evidence and correctly applied the law to that

evidence. The issuance of a full written opinion by this court would serve no jurisprudential

purpose. Accordingly, for the reasons stated in the district court’s opinions, we AFFIRM.

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