City of Rochester's Inspection Warrants Were Constitutional

The City of Rochester asked the Monroe County Supreme Court for warrants authorizing inspection of landlord's buildings to check for Building Code violations. Landlord and tenants sued, claiming that the warrants didn't comply with criminal procedure law and violated the Fourth Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court ruled against landlord and tenants. The local warrant law wasn't inconsistent with state criminal procedure law concerning search and seizure. There also was no showing that the warrants authorizing inspection of property to determine compliance with rules governing public health and safety violated the Fourth Amendment. The fact that Local Law No. 3 applied only to inspections of apartment buildings and not private homes didn't deny tenants equal protection of the law. Here, there was a valid public policy for treating rental housing differently.

Cermak v. City of Rochester: 2011 NY Slip Op 09367, 2011 WL 6462248 (App. Div. 4 Dept.; 12/23/11; Smith, JP, Carni, Lindley, Sconiers, Martoche, JJ)