Court Opinion

ID: 9466702
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:24:42.136608+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:54.211938
License: Public Domain

TONE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I believe we should affirm the judgment, which I think was correct as to both the Fourth Amendment and the procedural due process issues. My view makes it unnecessary for me to consider the constitutionality of the ordinance.
As to the Fourth Amendment issue, a few words on procedure are necessary to place what we are asked to decide in perspective. The case was decided by the district court on what amounted to cross-motions for summary judgment.1 The plaintiff supported his motion with a short affidavit and chose to make no further showing in opposition to the motion of the defendant. So far as is relevant to the question of whether plaintiff had an expectation of privacy in the searched premises that is cognizable under the Fourth Amendment, plaintiff alleged in his affidavit only that he owned the buildings and that the tenants did not have the , right to occupy the searched premises. Plaintiff’s affidavit makes no reference to other matters bearing upon his expectation of privacy, though such matters were surely within his knowl*1218edge. It was on this record that the parties asked the district court to rule. Under these circumstances, we should decide the case on the basis of the record before us and not remand it merely because we think facts may exist outside the present record that might support plaintiffs claim. Plaintiff was required to “set forth specific facts which would demonstrate that there was a genuine issue for trial.” Heck v. Rodgers, 457 F.2d 303, 307 (7th Cir. 1972); see First National Bank Co. v. Insurance Co. of North America, 606 F.2d 760, 766 (7th Cir. 1979). We are not entitled to proceed on the
theory that factual issues sufficient to preclude disposition of a case on cross-motions for summary judgment can be “spontaneously generated” by a district court’s opinion. If no issues of material fact are created by the clash of affidavits and other materials submitted by the parties in support of their motions, then the [requirement that the prevailing movant demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue as to any material fact] has been met.
Central Oil & Supply Corp. v. United States, 557 F.2d 511, 515 (5th Cir. 1977). Cf. Furton v. City of Menasha, 149 F.2d 945, 947 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 326 U.S. 771, 66 S.Ct. 176, 90 L.Ed. 466 (1945). Given this, I think plaintiff has failed to allege facts from which it can be found that his Fourth Amendment rights were invaded.
Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967), established as the proper Fourth Amendment approach that “the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.” 2 In Katz the Court stated,
The premise that property interests control the right of the Government to search and seize has been discredited.
Id. at 353, 88 S.Ct. at 512 (quoting Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 304, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 1648, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967)). Thus,
What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. . . but what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected.
Id. at 351-52, 88 S.Ct. at 511. As stated in the concurring opinion of Justice Harlan,
There is a twofold requirement, first that a person have exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy and, second, that the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as “reasonable.”
389 U.S. at 361, 88 S.Ct. at 516. See also United States v. Freie, 545, F.2d 1217, 1223 (9th Cir. 1976), cert. denied sub nom. Gangadean v. United States, 430 U.S. 966, 97 S.Ct. 1645, 52 L.Ed.2d 356 (1977).3
Under Katz, plaintiff was required to allege facts showing that he exhibited an expectation of privacy in the unoccupied portions of the buildings in issue in this case, as well as that the expectation was one that society would recognize as reasonable. The latter condition need not be considered because the former was not satisfied. The only allegation of fact from which an “exhibited . . . actual (subjective) expectation of privacy” can be inferred is the plaintiff’s ownership of the property. Plaintiff’s affidavit asserts no fact other than ownership that would indicate that he expected privacy in the disputed areas of the buildings. Thus, while he states that he has “an agreement with Wall Realty Company . . for them to manage the . property,” he does not state that he has given that firm any *1219instructions with respect to securing the premises. He does not state that he himself has made any effort to secure the premises or to post signs prohibiting entry by other persons. He does not state that he has ever visited or inspected the premises or stored any articles on the premises. Even his allegation with respect to the restricted rights of tenants at the Pennsylvania Street building does not amount to a statement that the tenants were prohibited from entering parts of the building other than their apartments. That statement is as follows:
The tenants are given the right to occupy only their apartments and not any other or the basement of the building.
That the tenants do not have the right to occupy other areas does not mean they have no right to enter other areas. Obviously, they have the right to enter the common halls of the building, for example. If the tenants had been prohibited from entering the basement, or areas of the building other than their own apartments, presumably the plaintiff would have so stated in his affidavit.
Given the Katz principle that the Fourth Amendment protects people and not places, ownership unaccompanied by either occupancy or any exhibition of an expectation of privacy or an intention to assert a privacy interest should not be sufficient for Fourth Amendment protection. Here the plaintiff displayed an utter indifference to privacy. He neither occupied nor otherwise used the premises. He made no effort to lock or even shut doors or post signs. He was content to leave the premises in dispute so open to public view that the existence of some of the violations could be ascertained without entry. Under these circumstances the district court was correct in granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment.
As to Part II of the court’s opinion, assuming that the effect of the challenged notices was to deprive plaintiff of a property interest, I think that nevertheless the due process requirement of procedural fairness was satisfied. Each page of each of the notices of violation that are challenged in this case contained the following statement immediately above the signature of the complaining officer:
If there are any questions relative to the contents of this notice, call the Division of Public Health, 1722 City-County Building, 683-3644, between 8:00 to 9:00 a. m., Monday thru Friday.
(Emphasis in original.)
In addition, the letter fixing a shorter period than the 30 days provided in the principal notice for correction of certain health hazards on the Pennsylvania Street property stated,
If you have any questions please contact our office at 524 East 16th Street or call 925-9821.
If plaintiff even glanced at the contents of the notices he could hardly have failed to observe that he was invited to obtain further information about the notice from the Division of Public Health at the phone number and during the hours stated. Plaintiff does not allege that he accepted that invitation but was unable to learn that he was entitled to a hearing.
The purpose of a hearing would have been to allow plaintiff to demonstrate that he was in compliance with the applicable codes. This is obvious not only from the circumstances but from the provisions of the ordinance itself. The plaintiff does not allege in his complaint or elsewhere that the conditions recited in the notices did not exist or that he was in compliance with the applicable health and safety ordinances.
In substance, plaintiff complains that he was not notified of his right to a hearing for the purpose of determining the existence of violations which he has never disputed. He makes this complaint despite advice in each notice he received to the effect that he could obtain further information about the notice by calling a given phone number during stated hours. A plaintiff who failed to take advantage of the notice he was given, and who now fails even to allege that he could have offered any proof favorable to himself at the hearing of which he was allegedly deprived, is in *1220a singularly poor position to claim a denial of procedural due process.4
It should be added that with respect to the Brookside Avenue property, the plaintiff received an additional notice giving him a time and place at which he could receive a hearing concerning the alleged violations. No action was taken against him until after the hearing date. The record does not disclose whether plaintiff took advantage of that hearing. If he had, we would presumably have been so advised. Subsequently, a criminal or quasi-criminal action was commenced against the plaintiff for the Brook-side violations. This action apparently terminated when plaintiff voluntarily corrected the code violations. I can find no violation of procedural due process in this sequence of proceedings.

. Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment was filed in response to defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint. Defendant thereafter submitted affidavits to the district court, and the court treated defendant’s motion to dismiss as a motion for summary judgment.

. 389 U.S. at 351, 88 S.Ct. at 511; see id. at 361, 88 S.Ct. at 516 (Harlan, J., concurring).

. I do not think the discursive footnote in Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978), that is quoted in part by the majority, ante at 1212-1213, can be said to have changed the Katz analysis. Among other things, Justice Rehnquist observed in that footnote that,
On the other hand, even a property interest in premises may not be sufficient to establish a legitimate expectation of privacy with respect to particular items located on the premises or activity conducted thereon. See Katz, supra, [389 U.S.] at 351, 88 S.Ct. at 511. . .
439 U.S. at 144 n.12, 99 S.Ct. at 431.

. I would note also that, even assuming some procedural right was invaded, it appears highly unlikely on this record that plaintiff could demonstrate actual damages arising therefrom. If the code violations actually existed, and plaintiff does not allege otherwise, the only injury plaintiff sustained was the loss of a futile hearing and notice of that hearing. Under Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 255, 258-266, 98 S.Ct. 1042, 1048, 1050-54, 55 L.Ed.2d 252 (1978), this loss would entitle him to only nominal damages of one dollar.