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CA6: Land use entries onto defendant's property violated the Fourth Amendment

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Land use administrative entry onto property violated Fourth Amendment. (The inspector was even sent by a prosecutor, and the inspections were unannounced.) Jacob v. Twp. of W. Bloomfield, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 14185, 2008 FED App. 0243P (6th Cir. July 3, 2008): Widgren [Widgren v. Maple Grove Township, 429 F.3d 575 (6th Cir. 2005)] considered this distinction between criminal and merely administrative investigations. In Widgren, officials of Maple Grove Township discovered that Kenneth Widgren began construction of a house on his property, despite failing to obtain a building permit for the construction of the home. Id. at 578. Accordingly, a local tax assessor entered the curtilage of Widgren's home without a warrant, and for the sole purpose of observing the exterior of the house to assess Widgren's property tax liability...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 08, 2008 (boomark / email).