Court Opinion

ID: 9517743
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 00:30:44.681731+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:07:47.087302
License: Public Domain

dissenting.
I disagree with the result reached by the majority today, and write separately to express my disagreement with the unnecessary abandonment of the holding in Commonwealth v. Lutz, 512 Pa. 192, 516 A.2d 339 (1986).
I cannot agree that, without more, this Court can reach the conclusion that the risk involved with hazardous waste is as great as that incurred with solid waste. While it could never be concluded that solid waste is benign in all cases when compared with the hazardous variety, it seems clear to me that the facts which would make it so would also provide the probable cause necessary to obtain a search *288warrant. In the present case, nothing pointing to the imminence of the danger of the appellant’s activity warrant this Court’s excise, in one fell swoop, of a business’ expectation of privacy.
In this aspect, I think that Lutz struck the proper balance between risk of harm versus the derogation of a business’ constitutionally protected rights. This Court need go no further than that to decide the present case. From the mere fact that the Legislature has expressed the same general concerns for solid waste as it has hazardous, does not come the conclusion that the two are para materia, and thus should not be treated as such.
In instances such as the present, we should scrutinize with great caution the facts of each case before we concede in a general way the rights held by our citizens and our businesses.
I therefore dissent.