Court Opinion

ID: 9581698
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:17:37.663233+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:11.663847
License: Public Domain

Judge Greene
dissenting.
Although I agree with the majority that the North Carolina fishing industry is pervasively regulated and thus falls within the Colonnade-Biswell doctrine permitting warrantless inspections, I *642do not agree that the warrantless inspections allowed under Section 113-136(k) meet the reasonableness requirements set forth in Burger. See New York v. Burger, 482 U.S. 691, 702-03, 96 L. Ed. 2d 601, 614 (1987). Specifically, in my opinion the statute does not sufficiently restrict the discretion of the inspecting officers.
I agree with the majority’s characterization as “substantial” the State’s interest in the maintenance, preservation, protection and development of our marine resources. Furthermore, for the reasons articulated by the majority, the ability of enforcement officers to inspect without the requirement of a warrant furthers this substantial interest. Accordingly, I agree that the first two prongs of the Burger test are met. See Burger, 482 U.S. at 702-03, 96 L. Ed. 2d at 614. However, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that Section 113-136(k), “in terms of the certainty and regularity of its application,” serves as “a constitutionally adequate substitute for a warrant.” Id. In order to comply with this third requirement, a statute authorizing warrantless inspections must (1) “advise the owner of the commercial premises that the search is being made pursuant to the law and has a properly defined scope,” and (2) “limit the discretion of the inspecting officers.” Burger, 482 U.S. at 703, 96 L. Ed. 2d at 614 (citations omitted).
The notice requirement contemplates a statute which is “sufficiently comprehensive and defined” to put the owner of commercial premises on notice that his property “will be subject to periodic inspections undertaken for specific purposes,” Donovan v. Dewey, 452 U.S. 594, 600, 69 L. Ed. 2d 262, 270 (1981), and I agree that the portion of Section 113-136(k) at issue meets this requirement. The statute makes it unlawful to refuse to allow the inspection of fish (thus a fish dealer cannot help but know that periodic inspections of his fish will occur) that the officer reasonably believes to be possessed incident to an activity regulated by any law or rule over which inspectors and protectors have enforcement jurisdiction (indicating that the purpose of an inspection is to determine compliance with the regulatory scheme).
In addition to providing notice, however, the statute must also be “carefully limited in time, place, and scope.” United States v. Biswell, 406 U.S. 311, 315, 32 L. Ed. 2d 87, 92 (1972). With regard to place, Section 113-136 prohibits warrantless searches only “within the curtilage of a dwelling or of the living quarters of a vessel . . . .” N.C.G.S. § 113-136(1) (Supp. 1991). Nothing in the *643statutory framework of Section 113-136 otherwise limits the places at which inspections may be performed, or the hours during which inspections may occur. The majority concludes that the failure of Section 113-136 to establish time restrictions is not fatal. However, the footnote in Burger upon which the majority bases its conclusion addresses only the adequacy of a statute which fails to limit the number of searches that may be conducted of a particular business during any given period, not the hours during which such inspections may occur. The Burger Court concluded that the omission of limits on the frequency of inspections is not determinative of the statute’s constitutionality “so long as the statute, as a whole, places adequate limits upon the discretion of the inspecting officers.” Burger, 482 U.S. at 711 n.21, 96 L. Ed. 2d at 619 n.21 (although it did not limit the number of searches, statute at issue restricted conduct of inspections to “regular and usual business hours” of “vehicle-dismantling and related industries” to “examine records as well as any vehicles or parts of vehicles which are subject to [the statute] and which are on the premises”). And although I am aware, as the majority notes, that courts have upheld statutes authorizing warrantless inspections which contain no restrictions as to the hours during which the inspections may take place, the pivotal factor in the court’s rationale in each of these cases is the ongoing and unpredictable hours of operation of the regulated enterprise. See, e.g., Lovgren v. Byrne, 787 F.2d 857 (3d Cir. 1986) (warrantless inspection of commercial fishing vessels and surrounding vehicles, buildings, piers, or dock facilities); Tart v. Massachusetts, 949 F.2d 490 (1st Cir. 1991) (warrantless documentation check of commercial fishing vessels); United States v. Dominguez-Prieto, 923 F.2d 464 (6th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ---, 114 L. Ed. 2d 468 (1991) (warrantless inspection of trucks). Section 113-136(k), however, does not limit the entities subject to war-rantless inspections to those with unpredictable hours of operation, such as commercial fishing vessels. Rather, the statute permits the inspection of fish at any time day or night, wherever located— whether on a dock, on a boat, in a fish house, restaurant, building, or grocery store — and as often as the protector, inspector, or “other law enforcement officers” wish to inspect. The inspecting officer need only reasonably believe that the fish are possessed incident to, not in violation of, a regulated activity (or with regard to vehicles traveling along the primary highways of the State, that someone in the vehicle “is or has recently been engaged in an activity regulated by the Wildlife Resources Commission”). The sole restriction in *644Section 113-136 prohibiting inspections within the curtilage of a dwelling or the living quarters of a vessel “is plainly insufficient to provide either a meaningful limitation on the otherwise unlimited discretion the statute affords or a satisfactory means to minimize the risk of arbitrary and/or abusive enforcement.” People v. Scott, 593 N.E.2d 1328, 1344 (N.Y. 1992). Consistent with the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of the federal Fourth Amendment, and with our own Constitution’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, see N.C. Const. art. I, § 20, I would hold that in order for such warrantless inspections, in particular of fish houses and other businesses with regular hours of operation, to be reasonable, greater restrictions on the inspecting officers’ discretion are required. See, e.g., N.C.G.S. § 113-302.1 (1990) (reasonable warrantless inspection of premises by protectors to determine whether wildlife is possessed in accordance with applicable laws or rules limited to an appropriate time of day).
For the foregoing reasons, I conclude that the portion of Section 113-136(k) permitting the warrantless inspection of fish, wherever located and without limitation, is not a constitutionally adequate substitute for a warrant and is therefore in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Accordingly, I would affirm the trial court’s order to the extent that it found Section 113-136(k)’s authorization of warrantless inspections of fish to be unconstitutional.