Bruce v. Beary

[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
_____________ SEPTEMBER 6, 2007
THOMAS K. KAHN
No. 06-15304 CLERK
_____________

D.C. Docket No. 04-01595-CV-ORL-22-DAB

WILLIAM H. BRUCE, III,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

versus

KEVIN BEARY, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Orange County,
RANDALL ROOT, in his individual capacity,
KENNETH GLANTZ, in his individual capacity,
EDWARD KELLY, in his individual capacity, et al.,

Defendants-Appellees.

____________

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
____________

(September 6, 2007)

Before CARNES, WILSON, and HILL, Circuit Judges.
HILL, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff, William H. Bruce, III, appeals the grant of summary judgments to

all defendants in this Section 1983 civil rights action for damages resulting from

the administrative search of plaintiff’s place of business. For the following

reasons, we shall vacate the judgments.

I.

In January of 2001, Zeeshan Shaikh complained to Randall Root of the

Auto Theft Unit of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department that he had purchased

a car from defendant William H. Bruce, III, at his place of business, Wholesale

Auto Advantage, Inc., an auto body repair shop and salvage yard (the

“Premises”).1 He told Root that the vehicle identification number (“VIN”) plate

did not match the confidential vehicle identification number (“CVIN”) sticker on

the car.2 Root conferred with his supervisor, Kenneth Glantz. The two officers

1
Clifford M. Gager, worked for Bruce as a salesperson/estimator, and testified in his
affidavit that the shop was certified by and performed repair work for many insurance companies,
including State Farm, Progressive, Allstate, Nationwide, and GEICO Insurance Companies.
Their accounts also included Thrifty and Enterprise Car Rental companies, and they were the
official body shop for Heintzelman’s Truck Center in Orlando. Gager also testified that Bruce
and the shop were well respected in the local automotive industry as a “good honest business.”
2
For purposes of determining qualified immunity, the facts are as alleged and supported
by affidavits and deposition testimony, and are taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.
Bennett v. Parker, 898 F.2d 1530, 1536 n. 2 (11th Cir. 1990) (Tjoflat, C.J. concurring) (“The
court considers in the light most favorable to the plaintiff all facts fairly inferrable from the
record – regardless of factual disputes – and decides whether, under those facts, defendant’s
conduct violated law clearly established at the time”). This recitation of the facts is taken from

2
decided to conduct an administrative inspection of the Premises, as authorized by

Florida Statute § 812.055. The statute permits a warrantless physical inspection of

salvage yards and repair shops (among other businesses) during normal business

hours “for the purpose of locating stolen vehicles . . .; investigating the titling and

registration of vehicles . . .; inspecting vehicles . . . wrecked or dismantled; or

inspecting records required [to be kept by such businesses]. Id.

On January 15, 2001, at about 10:30 in the morning, Root, Glantz, and

Edward Kelly led a group of approximately twenty officers to the Premises. The

officers arrived in unmarked trucks and SUVs, and surrounded the entire Premises,

blocking all exits. Some of the officers were dressed in SWAT uniforms –

ballistic vests imprinted with SWAT in big letters, camouflage pants, and black

boots. They entered the Premises with guns drawn – all were armed with Glock

21 sidearms; some carried Bennelli automatic shotguns. When the officers entered

the Premises, they ordered the employees to line up along the fence. Vincent

Lewis, who was working on a car, felt something touch his back and turned

around to find an officer pointing a shotgun at him. The officers patted down and

searched the employees. Pockets and purses were searched. The officers took at

the district court’s opinion.

3
least Lewis’s driver’s license.3

Judy Bass, the office manager, testified that she gave the officers paperwork

showing that the car purchased by the complaining citizen had mismatched VINs

because Bruce had purchased the car with the mismatched VINs from a

government theft recovery program and was authorized to resell it that way. Root

admitted receiving this paperwork during the search, but testified that it had “no

bearing on his investigation.”

Bruce arrived at the Premises about ten minutes after the officers. Kelly

told him that the officers were there to do an administrative records check.

Another officer asked Bruce if he had the titles to all the cars that he had on the

lot. Bruce gave the titles to the officer.4

Glantz told Bruce to sit in the lounge while they searched a desk in the

hallway. In the desk drawer, containing mostly condiment packets, Root found a

VIN plate. Glantz asked Bruce if he had any more loose VIN plates. Bruce

produced a clear baggie from a locked briefcase in the office containing numerous

VIN plates and VIN stickers. Glantz asked Bruce if there were any weapons in the

3
Lewis testified that he was told continually to “shut up” and not to ask any questions.
His license was not returned until 3:00 that afternoon.
4
He has never seen them again.

4
briefcase and Bruce said “no.”5 Kelly opened the briefcase and found twenty

thousand dollars in cash, brass knuckles, a stun gun, and a loaded revolver.6 Root

inspected the VIN plates from the briefcase and discovered one that appeared to be

counterfeit.7 He also found a stack of business cards in the desk that advertised

replication of factory VIN decals.

Shortly thereafter, Bruce was arrested and charged with possession of loose

VIN plates in violation of Fla. Stat. § 319.30(5)(b),8 and with operating a “chop

shop,” in violation of Fla. Stat. § 812.16(2).9

5
Although the district court found that Bruce told the officers there was no gun in the
briefcase, the court relied upon the officer’s incident report for this finding. It is unclear whether
this fact is undisputed by Bruce, as he was not asked this question during his deposition. Bruce
did testify in his deposition that when dangerous items were discovered in vehicles under repair,
he would put them into the locked briefcase for security. For the purposes of this motion, we
must take the testimony of Bruce in the light most favorable to him. Bennett, 89 F.2d at 1536
n.2.
6
None of which appears to be illegal in these circumstances.
7
The number on the plate had sixteen digits, and VINs are seventeen digit numbers.
8
The statute makes it unlawful “for any person to knowingly possess, sell, or exchange,
offer to sell or exchange, or give away any manufacturer’s or state-assigned identification
number plate or serial plate of any motor vehicle or mobile home that has been removed from the
motor vehicle or mobile home for which it was manufactured” and “for any person to authorize,
direct, aid in, or consent to the possession, sale, or exchange or to offer to sell, exchange, or give
away such manufacturer’s or state-assigned identification number plate or serial plate.” Fla. Stat.
§ 319.30(5)(b).
9
A “chop shop” is “any area, building, storage, lot, field, or other premises or place where
one or more persons are engaged or have engaged in altering, dismantling, reassembling, or in
any way concealing or disguising the identity of a stolen motor vehicle or of any major
component part of a stolen motor vehicle; where there are two or more stolen motor vehicles
present; or where there are major component parts from two or more stolen motor vehicles

5
 At approximately 1:00 p.m., the officers began to thoroughly search the

Premises. They went through every file, including tax, bookkeeping, and

accounting records, and the office computer. They inspected all 150 plus vehicles

on the lot – cutting some open with chain saws. These activities – including the

detention of at least several employees – continued until after 6:00 p.m.

During their search, the officers discovered two vans owned by Specialty

Auto Rentals that had been reported stolen. Ms. Bass testified that she told Root

that the vans were not stolen, that they were there for repairs for which the owners

never paid, and offered documentation that Bruce had obtained mechanic’s liens

on the vans. She testified that the officer did not even look at the papers; he just

threw them on the ground. Later, further proof of ownership of the vehicles on the

Premises (some 150 vehicles had been purchased through the bankruptcy court)

was offered and rejected.

The officers found two other cars on the lot with suspicious identification.

One had no VIN plate and the other had an altered VIN plate and sticker.

At approximately 6:00 p.m., Root obtained a search warrant in order, he

testified, to seize the records and other items at the Premises. Root’s supporting

affidavit averred that during the course of the administrative inspection, the

present.” Fla. Stat. 812.16(2).

6
officers found two vehicles that had been reported stolen and six other vehicles

with missing or altered VIN plates. Root also attested that the officers found a

briefcase that contained three VIN plates, seven VIN stickers, money, a stun gun,

brass knuckles and a revolver, and, in the desk drawer, the business cards.10

When Root returned to the Premises with the warrant, he and Glantz seized

essentially all property on the Premises – including both business and personal

files, tax records, and over 100 vehicle titles and registrations. They took the

filing cabinets, copy machine and typewriter. They took the employees’ personal

tool belts and tools. Root testified that, in all, they seized seven pallets of Bruce’s

property.

One month later, in February, the Sheriff’s Office initiated a forfeiture

proceeding as to the property, pursuant to the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act.

After an evidentiary hearing, the Florida circuit court held that the defendants did

not have probable cause to seize or retain any of Bruce’s property, with the

10
He did not report that he had been told by Judy Bass that the original citizen’s complaint
that prompted the inspection concerned a theft recovery vehicle or that two of the vehicles
reported stolen were subject to mechanic’s liens. Root also did not mention that Bruce was in the
business of repairing and salvaging automobile bodies, which often requires removing VIN
plates and safety stickers, and which is permitted by Florida law. See Fla. Stat. § 319.30(5)(c)
(providing a safe harbor from prosecution for persons “who remove[], possess[], or replace[] a
manufacturer’s or state-assigned identification number plate, in the course of performing repairs
on a vehicle”).

7
exception of the two vehicles mentioned above for which Bruce could produce no

documentation at the hearing.11 The court ordered Sheriff Beary immediately to

return to Bruce all of the remaining 150 plus vehicles, plus all of the various

records, titles, VIN plates, and other property seized. In March, the Orange

County state attorney dropped all criminal charges against Bruce.

Beary did not, however, return Bruce’s property. In May, Bruce and his

lawyer at the time went to the Evidence Department of the Orange County

Sheriff’s Office and requested the return of the property, but Root informed Bruce

that the Sheriff’s Office would not return all of the property.12 Some time later, a

Sheriff’s Office truck delivered to the Premises some of the items taken during the

raid. The truck driver had the officers’ inventory list of property taken from the

Premises, and several boxes of items were marked “do not return.”13 Bruce

testified in his deposition in this case that the Sheriff still retains seized items,

including car titles, business records, tax files, insurance files, and other financial

11
Bruce testifies that one of these automobiles belonged to a former employee, and Bruce
had no legal interest in it. The court refused to order the return of the other vehicle because
Bruce had no documentation for it at that time.
12
The district court’s order observed that “Defendant Root, in defiance of the State Court
order, refused to release any of Plaintiff’s property.”
13
Gager, Bruce’s estimator, was present when the truck arrived, and testified in his
affidavit that he questioned the driver about why all the property was not being returned. He was
told to “shut up” or the driver would take all the boxes back and “we would never see them
again.”

8
records.

In January of 2002, the Florida court of appeals affirmed the circuit court’s

order to return the property. Beary v. Bruce, 804 So.2d 579 (5th DCA 2002).

In 2004, Bruce filed this action, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against

Sheriff Beary in his official capacity as the Sheriff of Orange County, and officers

Randall Root, Kenneth Glantz and Edward Kelly in their individual capacities.

Bruce alleges that the administrative inspection of his Premises constituted an

unreasonable search and seizure and, therefore, violated the Fourth Amendment.

The district court granted summary judgments to all defendants, holding that there

were no constitutional violations and that, even if there were, Sheriff Beary and

the officers have valid defenses to this lawsuit.

We review these summary judgments de novo. Bailey v. Allgas, Inc., 284

F.3d 1237, 1242 (11th Cir. 2002). We shall first determine, based upon all facts

fairly inferrable from the record,14 whether the defendants violated Bruce’s

constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable search and seizure. If so, we

shall then determine whether the law provides the Sheriff and the officers with

defenses to liability for the violation. See Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201

(2001).

14
See note 1, supra.

9
 II.

Defendants assert that their warrantless search of Bruce’s Premises was

permitted by Florida Statute § 812.055, which authorizes law enforcement to

perform “administrative inspections” of automobile body repair and salvage shops.

Such administrative inspections do not offend the Fourth Amendment if they are

necessary in order to monitor closely regulated businesses for the purpose of

learning whether a particular business is conforming to the statute regulating that

business. New York v. Burger, 482 U.S. 691, 702-03 (1987). The statute

authorizing such inspections is constitutional if the state has a substantial interest

in regulating the particular business, the inspection is necessary to further the

regulatory scheme, and the statute’s inspection program, in view of the certainty

and regularity of its application, provides a constitutionally adequate substitute for

a warrant. Id. The Florida Supreme Court has determined that Florida Statute §

812.055 conforms to these three criteria, Moore v. Florida, 442 So.2d 215 (Fla.

1983), and Bruce does not challenge this conclusion.

The warrantless administrative inspection, however, remains an exception to

the Fourth Amendment’s general rule that a warrant – supported by probable cause

and specifying what is to be seized – is required when law enforcement seeks to

search private property. The administrative search exception does not confer

10
authority on law enforcement to ignore the requirement for a warrant where “the

primary purpose [of the search or seizure] was to detect evidence of ordinary

criminal wrongdoing.” City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32, 37 (2000).

In Burger, the Court rejected the idea that an administrative inspection may be

used to gather evidence as part of what is, in reality, a criminal investigation. 482

U.S. at 691 and 716 n. 27. The Court upheld the inspection of Burger’s

automobile junkyard, in part, because “[t]here [was], furthermore, no reason to

believe that the instant inspection was actually a ‘pretext’ for obtaining evidence

of respondent’s violation of the penal laws.” Id. See also United States v.

Johnson, 994 F.2d 740, 742 (10th Cir. 1993) (an administrative inspection is a

“sham” where it is “a pretext solely to gather evidence of criminal activity”).

Furthermore, even when permitted, the Constitution requires that

administrative inspections be “appropriately limited.” Edmond, 531 U.S. at 37.

The authorizing statute must “carefully limit[] their time, place, and scope.”

Burger, 482 U.S. at 718 (Brennan, J., dissenting, but noting no disagreement with

the Court’s “general rule”).

Nor may an authorizing statute commit the conduct of such an inspection to

the unbridled discretion of the inspector. Id. at 703. The statute must “limit the

discretion of the inspecting officers” and the inspection must have a “properly

11
defined scope.” Id. There must be “reasonable legislative or administrative

standards for conducting an . . . inspection.” Camara v. Municipal Court, 387

U.S. 523, 538 (1967). “Where a statute authorizes the inspection but makes no

rules governing the procedures that inspectors must follow, the Fourth

Amendment and its various restrictive rules apply.” Colonnade Catering Corp. v.

United States, 397 U.S. 72, 77 (1970). The fundamental function of these rules is

to protect citizens from the “unbridled discretion [of] executive and administrative

officers.” Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 323 (1978).

Bruce contends that the search of the Premises did not abide these

limitations. He argues that, from the inception, the search of the Premises was not

a routine administrative inspection, but rather an ordinary criminal raid,

undertaken with suspicion of a particular crime and implemented to discover and

seize evidence of that crime. Prompted by the complaint suggesting that Bruce

might be engaged in selling stolen vehicles, Bruce asserts that the officers arrived

at his Premises with the specific purpose of finding and seizing evidence of that

crime. In this context, he concludes, the Constitution requires that law

enforcement arrive with a warrant, not an administrative handbook.15

15
The officers carry an “auto theft inspection log packet” that contains a copy of the
authorizing statute with an explanation of the scope of the inspection. They asked Bruce’s
employee to sign the form to acknowledge that he received it.

12
 Furthermore, Bruce contends, even if validly undertaken, the administrative

inspection of his Premises exceeded what the Fourth Amendment allows. The

Florida statute permits the administrative inspection of books, records, and

vehicles. It does not, he claims, permit a “para-military raid” on his place of

business. Finally, he asserts, the retention of his property after appeal violated the

Florida court’s order to the Sheriff to return it, and constitutes a separate violation

of his Fourth Amendment rights.16

What then can be concluded about the search and seizure of Bruce’s

Premises? Was it undertaken as a valid administrative inspection, as the

defendants maintain, or was it, as Bruce claims, an ordinary criminal raid that was

unsupported by the constitutionally required warrant? Was it properly limited in

scope and execution, or did the officers conduct the inspection with

unconstitutionally excessive discretion? Finally, was the failure to return Bruce’s

property a constitutional violation?

III.

1. Suspicionless Search or Search with Suspicion?

16
Florida law permits the seizing agent to retain the property pending appeal (although we
note that the State Attorney had dropped all charges against Bruce prior to the filing of the
appeal). See Fla. Stat. § 932.704(9)(a). Additionally, we observe that the statute also provides
that “[i]f the claimant prevails on appeal, the seizing agent shall immediately release the seized
property to the person entitled to possession of the property as determined by the court, pay any
costs as assessed by the court . . . .” Fla. Stat. § 932.704(9)(b).

13
 Bruce’s first contention is that an administrative inspection, pursuant to an

authorizing statute, must be a routine, random, suspicionless visit to a business to

inspect books and records. He asserts that any time law enforcement has

“particularized suspicion” of illegal activity at a business and seeks to investigate

and gather evidence, it must arrive warrant in hand.

Bruce relies heavily on the Supreme Court’s 2000 decision in Edmond, in

which the Court consistently uses the term “suspicionless searches” to characterize

administrative searches. 531 U.S. at 37 (“we have upheld brief, suspicionless

seizures”). The Court in Edmond struck down a drug-interdiction checkpoint

because its primary purpose was the detection of “ordinary criminal wrongdoing.”

Id. at 41. The Court said that “when government seeks to ferret out crime, it is

fully expected to comply with the Fourth Amendment.” Id.

Furthermore, the Tenth Circuit’s recent decision in United States v.

Johnson, 408 F.3d at 1321 (10th Circuit 2005), supports Bruce’s view. In Johnson,

the Tenth Circuit stated that when the “evidence of criminal activity [is] so

compelling that police have, in essence, probable cause to believe that specific

criminal conduct has occurred,” they must get a warrant. Id. This is so, the court

said, because Burger “did not endorse a scheme that would allow a warrantless

search based on recently discovered evidence that criminal activity had occurred.”

14
Id. (quoting S & S Pawn Shop Inc. v. City of Del City, 947 F.2d 432, 440 (10th Cir.

1991)). Furthermore, the court said, “inspections of . . . business premises . . .

conducted not as part of a pre-planned and dispassionate administrative procedure

but instead pursuant to direct criminal suspicion . . . give [ ] cause for grave

constitutional concern.” Id. (quoting S & S Pawn Shop, 947 F.2d at 441).

The Eighth Circuit has also recognized the danger of allowing

administrative searches to become “pretexts for ‘crime control.’” United States v.

Knight, 306 F.3d 534, 537 (8th Cir. 2002) (holding unconstitutional the

administrative search of personal belongings conducted in that case).

We share our sister circuits’ concern that the administrative search

exception not be allowed to swallow whole the Fourth Amendment. See Swint v.

City of Wadley, Ala., 51 F.3d 988, 998 (11th Cir. 1995) (“Even in the context of

administrative searches of business property, however, the Fourth Amendment

limits warrantless searches”). Unless the warrant exception for administrative

inspections of pervasively regulated businesses means that under no circumstances

is law enforcement required to secure a warrant prior to entry, at some level of

suspicion a warrant is required.17 In this era of the pervasive regulation of most

17
Judge Carnes, in his concurrence, highlights this issue, which, although unnecessary for
us to decide, nonetheless raises important constitutional concerns.

15
businesses, to interpret the exception otherwise might well give cause for general

alarm.18

We need not, however, address today the question of where to draw that

line, because we hold that under the circumstances of this case the officers did not

cross it. The Supreme Court has made quite clear that an administrative search is

not rendered invalid because it is accompanied by some suspicion of wrongdoing.

In United States v. Villamonte-Marquez, 462 U.S. 579, 584 n. 3 (1983), the Court

approved an administrative search that was prompted by an informant’s tip that a

vessel was carrying marijuana, noting that there was “little logic in sanctioning . . .

examinations of ordinary, unsuspect vessels but forbidding them in the case of

suspected smugglers” (quoting United States v. Arra, 630 F.2d 836, 846 (1st Cir.

1980)).

We too have approved administrative searches in response to information

giving rise to some suspicion of illegal activity. Crosby v. Paulk, 187 F.3d 1339,

1348 and n. 12 (11th Cir. 1999). In Crosby, officers conducted the administrative

inspection of a nightclub as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into

18
This is especially true given the Supreme Court’s apparent abandonment of its earlier
caveat in Colonnade, 397 U.S. at 77, that the exception applies only to historically pervasively
regulated businesses. See Burger, 482 U.S. at 705-06. See also Justice Stevens concurrence in
Donovan v. Dewey, 452 U.S. 594, 610 (1981) (pervasive regulation alone insufficient to
legitimize warrantless entry).

16
underage drinking and other alcohol violations. Id. at 1342. See also United

States v. Thomas, 973 F.2d 1152, 1155-56 (5th Cir. 1992) (administrative searches

do not violate Constitution simply because of the existence of specific suspicion of

wrongdoing); United States v. Nechy, 827 F.2d 1161, 1167 (7th Cir. 1987); Arra,

630 F.2d at 846.

Even in Johnson, in which the Tenth Circuit cautioned against

administrative searches in the service of particularized suspicion, the court upheld

the warrantless search at issue in the case, concluding that the officers did not

have “direct criminal suspicion” of wrongdoing. 408 F.3d at 1321.

Similarly, in this case, the officers did not have “direct criminal suspicion”

of wrongdoing. They received a criminal complaint regarding possible VIN

violations at Bruce’s auto body shop. This information alone did not rise to the

level of probable cause that would have supported application for a warrant. In

the absence of such direct criminal suspicion, the officers validly invoked their

statutory authority to inspect Bruce’s Premises to determine whether he was

operating in accordance with Florida law governing use of VIN plates. Merely

because the officers had “an objectively reasonable basis to suspect they might

find stolen cars or car parts in their inspection does not invalidate that inspection.”

Id. at 1323. Therefore, we hold that defendants were permitted to conduct a

17
warrantless administrative inspection of Bruce’s Premises for the purpose of

investigating VIN violations.19

2. Administrative Inspection or Criminal Raid?

More troubling, however, is the officers’ execution of the administrative

inspection of Bruce’s Premises. Officer Root’s own testimony raises doubt that

the conduct of the inspection was either “routine” or “administrative.” Root

testified that § 812.055 neither authorizes nor does he understand an appropriate

19
Bruce also suggests, however, that the officers’ conduct evidenced their intention to
“put him out of business.” In fact, he claims they did just that. While the officers’ “subjective
intentions play no role in ordinary probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis,” Whren v. United
States, 517 U.S. 806, 813 (1996), the Edmond Court explicitly held that “programmatic purposes
may be relevant to the validity of Fourth Amendment intrusions undertaken pursuant to a general
scheme without individualized suspicion,” such as administrative inspections. 531 U.S. at 45-46.
The Court said that “[w]hile reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment is predominantly an
objective inquiry, our special needs and administrative search cases demonstrate that purpose is
often relevant when suspicionless intrusions pursuant to a general scheme are at issue.” Id. at 47.
Therefore, while the officers’ suspicion about Bruce’s business practices did not negate their
statutory authority to conduct a warrantless inspection of his Premises, neither does such
suspicion insulate them from liability if they had the illegal purpose of eliminating a disfavored
business from the community.
On remand, the question of whether this administrative search was a pretext for an illegal
purpose is a factual question. Johnson, 994 F.2d at 743 (citing Abel v. United States, 362 U.S.
217, 225-30 (1960)). The wholesale seizure of virtually everything on Bruce’s Premises (and the
disinterest of the officers in proffered documentation of vehicle ownership) and the failure to
return Bruce’s property (especially after conclusion of the state court appeal) may be some
evidence of illegal pretext. See United States v. Mahaney, 105 F.3d 670 (10th Cir.
1997)(affirming district court’s finding of pretext based in part upon the officers’ failure to
examine Mahaney’s buy/sell register to determine whether he was legally in possession of the
vehicles and parts with altered VIN plates). So, too, may Root’s testimony that “[m]y intent was
to shut down a chop shop.”
A factual finding of pretext would require, of course, the legal conclusion of
unconstitutional unreasonableness. Burger, 482 U.S. at 691.

18
administrative inspection to include: the use of a SWAT team, or the searching

and prolonged detention of employees. Root Deposition (R-73-24).20 Glantz

similarly testified that it is not part of a typical administrative search to patdown

and search employees. Glantz Deposition (R-75-20). Glantz further testified that

he had no reasonable suspicion to patdown the employees. Root testified that it

was not part of a normal administrative inspection to arrive with guns drawn. (R-

74-34).

Furthermore, in marked contrast to the “inspection” under review, Ms. Bass

testified that during a previous administrative inspection of the Premises, “two

very polite gentlemen” came into her office, showed identification, asked for

certain records, examined them briefly and left. The whole inspection lasted

approximately 15 minutes. She testified that the previous inspection in no way

resembled the “inspection” under review in this case, which she characterized as a

“criminal raid.”

Defendants, on the other hand, assert that even if they conducted the

inspection as alleged by Bruce, they did no more than necessary to further

20
Root was asked whether “when you go for a records inspection you can’t handcuff
people?” to which he responded, “correct.” He was asked to confirm that he is not permitted
during an administrative inspection to “line the employees up against the fence” or “pat them
down” or detain them and he responded “correct.” He testified that these actions are “outside the
scope of what we do.” Root denied that any of these events occurred.

19
Florida’s regulatory interest over stolen automobiles, and, therefore, did not

exceed the limits of their discretion under the statute.

Defendants conceded at oral argument, however, that not every warrantless

search of a closely regulated business inspection is constitutional, and that the test

of a proper administrative search is its reasonableness.

As we observed above, administrative searches are an exception to the

Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement, but they are not an exception to the

Fourth Amendment’s requirement for reasonableness. Donovan, 452 U.S. at 598-

99; Swint, 51 F.3d at 998. In the very case in which the Court recognized the

permissibility of warrantless administrative inspections, it invalidated the actual

inspection conducted in the case because the inspectors’ search exceeded their

discretion under the authorizing statute. Colonnade, 397 U.S. at 77 (disapproving

the use of force to open locked door).

As with any search, then, the scope and execution of an administrative

inspection must be reasonable in order to be constitutional. Although a statute

authorizing administrative searches may be constitutional, actual searches

conducted under that authority may not. The question we must resolve, then, is

whether the conduct of the administrative inspection of Bruce’s Premises was

reasonable.

20
 This administrative inspection was conducted by 20 officers over a period

of eight hours.21 The officers arrived at Bruce’s auto body shop in unmarked

vehicles, surrounded the property and blocked the exits with their vehicles. They

entered the office with automatic shotguns and sidearms drawn. They searched

and detained employees.22

This hardly seems to be what the Supreme Court had in mind in Burger

when it held that the Constitution is not offended by statutes authorizing the

regular, routine inspection of books and records required to be kept by auto

salvagers. 482 U.S. at 711-12.23 A jury might find it hard to disagree with office

manager Bass’s conclusion that this conduct resembled a criminal raid more than

an administrative inspection.

We have previously invalidated a similar administrative search, holding that

it was unreasonably excessive in execution. In Swint, we reviewed two raids,

21
As noted previously, defendants dispute these facts, but concede them for the purpose of
the qualified immunity analysis.
22
Although Bruce may not assert the rights of his employees who may have been
unconstitutionally searched, any violation of their rights is not the focus of our inquiry. How the
officers treated the employees is relevant to our determination of whether their conduct exceeded
the scope of a proper administrative inspection.
23
The Court noted that the inspection of Burger’s auto salvage yard appeared to have been
made at random in the regular course of business. 482 U.S. at 694 n. 2. On any given day, the
Auto Crimes Division of the New York City Police Department conducted from five to ten
inspections of automobile salvage yards. Id. The junkyards designated for inspection were
selected from a list of such businesses compiled by New York City police detectives. Id.

21
conducted by approximately 30-40 officers on two separate occasions at a

nightclub. 51 F.3d at 992-93. During both raids, SWAT team officers

participated, and some of the officers pointed their weapons at club employees and

patrons. Id. Officers searched and detained employees and patrons until the raids,

which lasted approximately one and one-half hours, were over. Id. Employees

were refused permission to go to the restroom. Id.

In rejecting defendants’ claim that they had merely conducted an

administrative search, we held that the “massive show of force and excessive

intrusion” evidenced in these raids was in marked contrast to other administrative

inspections of the club, and that “[n]o reasonable officer in the defendants’

position could have believed that these were lawful, warrantless administrative

searches.” Id. at 999. We specifically recognized that “‘prior cases have

established that the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable

searches applies to administrative inspections of private commercial property.’”

Id. at 998 (quoting Donovan, 452 U.S. at 598).

Defendants protest that Crosby is the more apposite circuit precedent. In

Crosby, however, the officers went to the nightclub with valid warrants to arrest

the Crosbys for violations of Georgia laws relating to alcohol sales. 187 F.3d at

1342. While there, they performed an administrative inspection of the books and

22
records of the club, looking for Sunday alcohol sales violations and checked all

patrons’ identifications for underage drinking. Id. at 1343. In approving this

inspection, we specifically distinguished the Crosby inspection from that in Swint

because “in both of the raids in Swint . . . law enforcement officers [arrived] with

SWAT team officers, all of whom aimed their weapons at nightclub owners and

employees as well as patrons.” Id. at 1350. Furthermore, we noted that, in Swint,

“patrons were prohibited from moving or leaving until the officers [completed

their search].” Id. In concluding that the Crosby inspection did not exceed its

proper scope, we reiterated that the officers “checked identifications of

approximately 400 patrons, made approximately 70 arrests of underage patrons for

consuming alcohol, which resulted in 54 convictions” and all this was

accomplished “without displaying their weapons.” Id.

The administrative search at issue in this case more closely parallels that in

Swint than it does that in Crosby. The “massive show of force” in this case, like

that in Swint, is not the sort of conduct that was approved by the Supreme Court in

Burger. In Burger, five plainclothes officers arrived at Burger’s junkyard and

asked to see his business license and his “police book.” After determining that

there were stolen vehicles on the premises, they arrested Burger. There were no

guns drawn, no overwhelming display of force, and no detention, search or seizure

23
of employees. This is the sort of search that seems to deserve the label

“administrative inspection.”

On the other hand, the searches in Swint and as claimed in this case deserve

to be called what they were – criminal raids. The inspection of books and records,

of automobile titles and VIN numbers does not require exits to be blocked, an

automatic shotgun to be stuck into an employee’s back, employees to be lined up

along a fence and patted down and deprived of their identification. None of this

conduct is either routine or administrative. It is the conduct of officers conducting

a raid.

Nor is there any evidence in the record, and defendants do not argue in their

brief or at oral argument, that there was any reason to expect that force was

required to conduct the administrative inspection of Bruce’s Premises. Defendants

point to no evidence that they had any reason to believe that their inspection

would be met with resistance or defiance.

Similarly, in Turner v. Dammon, 848 F.2d 440, 446 (4th Cir. 1988), the

Fourth Circuit disapproved officers’ conduct in performing over 100

administrative inspections of a particular bar because there was no evidence in the

record to support the need for such repeated searches. The court framed the issue

as “whether [the officers] exercised unbridled discretion in conducting [over 100

24
searches], thereby effecting the type of ‘unreasonable’ intrusion that the Fourth

Amendment forbids.” Id. The court said that repeated searches might be

reasonable:

[I]f the record established that the large and disproportionate number
of searches at [the bar] was objectively supported by numerous
arrests, by reports of criminal activity there, or even by logs detailing
the subject of complaints by patrons, passersby, or neighboring
establishments to which the officers had responded.

Id. at 447. The record in Turner was, however, devoid of such support, containing

only the officer’s “unsubstantiated statements” that the inspections were

necessary. Id. at 445.24

In this case, too, we have such unsubstantiated assertions. At oral

argument,25 defendants asserted that “chop shops” are “dangerous places.” This

may well be so. But Wholesale Auto Advantage was not then, nor is it now, a

chop shop. It has never been determined to be anything other than a legitimate

auto body repair shop.26 If defendants had information supporting a reasonable

24
The officer testified that an unusual number of calls for police service were made from
the bar.
25
But not in their brief.
26
The state attorney dropped all criminal charges against Bruce, and the Florida court
ordered his vehicles, and all other property – including loose VIN plates – returned. Root
conceded in his testimony that Wholesale Auto Advantage has never been determined to be a
chop shop.

25
expectation that their arrival at Bruce’s Premises needed to be a para-military

operation, then we would be in a position now to evaluate the reasonableness of

their conduct. Absent some such showing, we are not. As the Turner court

observed:

It is this utter absence of objective justification for the [conduct of the
inspection] that raises constitutional concerns. The two officers offer
no basis from which any reviewing authority can gauge the
reasonableness of their actions. That, of course, is the very definition
of official lawlessness and the very behavior that the Fourth
Amendment, by its express terms, forbids.

848 F.2d at 445.

At least one other court has enforced a similar reasonableness requirement

on an administrative inspection of an automobile salvage yard. In Lewis v.

McMasters, 663 F.2d 954, 955 (9th Cir. 1981), the Ninth Circuit observed that

California courts had upheld an authorizing statute’s validity on the ground that,

properly construed, the section applied only to searches made “under reasonable

circumstances, within constitutional limitations.” (internal quotations omitted). In

holding the administrative search of the automobile salvage yard in that case

unconstitutional, the court said that it was unreasonable because the officers

searched beyond the scope of that permitted by the statute. Id.27

27
The officers seized a steel drum filled with old metal parts under a statute permitting
inspection of vehicles, titles and registrations. 663 F.2d at 954 and n. 1.

26
 The Seventh Circuit, in upholding the constitutionality of an Illinois statute

permitting warrantless inspections of automobile parts dealerships, explicitly

stated that it did not “lightly dismiss” the “specter of bureaucratic abuses”

suggested by testimony in the district court regarding such abuses perpetrated by

state officials conducting administrative inspections. Bionic Auto Parts and Sales,

Inc. v. Fahner, 721 F.2d 1072, 1080-81 (7th Cir. 1983). The court, however,

observed that these abuses could be remedied on a case-by-case basis. Id. at 1081

n. 4.

Courts have found administrative searches to have exceeded their

constitutional bounds in other contexts, as well. The Third Circuit held that an

administrative inspection that involved eight armed and uniformed officers who

descended on a taxidermist’s office and residence, and conducted an “exhaustive

search of [the defendant’s business] had “all the hallmarks of a purely criminal

investigation.” Showers v. Spangler, 182 F.3d 165, 173 (3d Cir. 1999).

Observing that the warrant exception for administrative searches is “extremely

limited,” the court noted that the authorizing statue limited the inspection to books

and records, and that it did not confer the type of “sweeping search power”

claimed by the officers. Id. The court held that there is a constitutional difference

“between an inspection of records, for which no warrant was required, and a

27
[general] search for which a warrant was always required, absent consent from the

person being searched.” Id. at 173 n.11. The court noted that the testimony of the

officers in that case – that an inspection is not the same as a general search –

corroborated its conclusion. Id. at n. 11.

In this case, too, we have a search that extended far beyond the statutory

authorization. Not just vehicles were searched; everyone on the Premises was.28

Not just VIN plates were seized; driver’s licenses were also. Not just records were

seized; employees were detained for ten hours. We conclude, as did the Third

Circuit in Spangler, that the scope and conduct of the search in this case had all

the hallmarks of a purely criminal investigation. Such an administrative inspection

is not reasonable.

The Eighth Circuit has also enforced limits on the scope of an

administrative inspection. United States v. Knight, 306 F.3d 534 (8th Cir. 2002).

In Knight, the court held that an officer’s search of a trucker’s briefcase sitting on

the seat beside him when stopped for an administrative regulatory inspection,

“quite obviously exceeded the authority invested in him by the [inspection

program].” Id. at 536. The court said that “[w]e believe that, as a general matter,

28
Again we note that the relevance of the searches of the employees is not that their
constitutional rights may have been violated, but rather we consider this fact as relevant to the
determination of whether the officers exceeded the proper scope of an administrative inspection.

28
rummaging through a person’s belongings is more likely to serve the purpose of

general ‘crime control’ than the enforcement of a regulatory scheme.” Id. at 537.29

The court concluded that such a search of personal belongings must be authorized

by a warrant or probable cause. Id.30 In the search at issue in this case,

employees’ personal belongings were similarly and unreasonably rummaged

through.31

Similarly, the Virginia Court of Appeals held unreasonable a search of

miners for smoking materials, justified by the Commonwealth as a permitted

administrative inspection pursuant to state statutes authorizing safety inspections

of the mining industry. Commonwealth v. Burgan, 450 S.E.2d 177, 180 (Va. App.

1994). The Virginia court said that the warrant exception applied to the search of

commercial premises, not to the search of employees, whose “expectation of

privacy remains undiminished by the statutes.” Id. But see Anobile v. Pelligrino,

303 F.3d 107, 123 (2d Cir. 2002) (holding patdowns of race track employees did

29
The court observed that the pretext doctrine was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in
Edmond. 306 F.3d at 537.
30
The court said that if there had been some indication by the trucker that the briefcase
might contain contraband the search may have been justified by probable cause. 306 F.3d at 537.
31
We are aware that the Tenth Circuit approved the search of an employee’s personal
toolbox in Johnson. 408 F.3d at 1322. The court did not find this conduct unreasonable because
the “officers had at least a reasonable suspicion that the toolbox might contain something
relevant to their administrative search.” Id.

29
not exceed permissible scope of the administrative search where object was to find

performance enhancing drugs and syringes for injecting horses).

We do not by our holding here today intend to impair Florida law

enforcement’s statutory authority to conduct administrative inspections of

automobile salvage yards. We agree with the Fourth Circuit that “the burden on

law enforcement officials in conforming their conduct to Fourth Amendment

standards is not great in the area of traditionally regulated industries.” Turner,

848 F.2d at 447.

Because administrative searches require no warrant, however, they invest

law enforcement with the power to invade the privacy of ordinary citizens. United

States v. Bulacan, 156 F.3d 963, 967 (9th Cir. 1998). “This power carries with it a

vast potential for abuse.” Id. Because of this potential for abuse, judicial review

must fulfill its constitutional duty to ensure that the Fourth Amendment’s

requirement for reasonableness in the conduct of such searches is not obliterated

by the statutory exception to its requirement for a warrant. Under certain limited

circumstances, the Constitution permits warrantless administrative searches. It

never permits unreasonable ones.

In reviewing the search of Bruce’s Premises, then, we have balanced the

administrative need to search against the invasion that the search entails. “To

30
meet the test of reasonableness, an administrative screening search must be as

limited in its intrusiveness as is consistent with satisfaction of the administrative

need that justifies it.” Id. (quoting United States v. Davis, 482 F.2d 893, 910 (9th

Cir. 1973)). The facts in this case, as alleged in Bruce’s complaint, supported by

evidence in his affidavits and deposition transcripts submitted in opposition to the

defendants’ motions for summary judgment, taken in the light most favorable to

him, are sufficient to raise genuine issues of material fact for trial as to whether

defendants’ conduct violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from

unreasonable administrative search and seizure. Under the Florida statute, the

officers were entitled to visit Bruce’s Premises to inspect Bruce’s vehicles, titles

and registrations and related records. If the evidence at trial supports Bruce’s

allegations, it is clear that this limited scope of their authorization under the statute

was substantially exceeded.

If the inspection of Bruce’s Premises was unlawful from its inception or in

its execution, then nothing discovered in the ensuing search could have been used

to support the required probable cause to arrest Bruce or seize the seven pallets of

his property. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961); United States v. Valdes, 876

F.2d 1554, 1559 (11th Cir. 1989) (warrantless arrest and seizure dependent upon

probable cause); State v. Pomerance, 434 So. 2d 329, 330 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983).

31
Certainly, the continued retention of his property after conclusion of the appeal

would be a constitutional violation as well.32

In so deciding, we do not hold that under no circumstances would an

administrative search similar to that alleged in this case be reasonable. We hold

only that, under the facts of this case, the administrative search of Bruce’s

Premises exceeded its limited scope and was, therefore, unreasonable, as was the

seizure of his property and the refusal to return it.

Having so held, we must now determine whether Sheriff Beary may be held

liable for the possible constitutional violations of his officers, and whether the

officers are entitled to qualified immunity from this lawsuit.

IV.

1. The Sheriff’s Policies

The Sheriff, sued in his official capacity, can be liable under Section 1983

for conduct in which he did not personally participate if he failed to train

adequately his officers in the proper conduct of an administrative search, and this

failure reflects a “deliberate indifference to the rights of persons with whom the

police come into contact.” City of Canton, Ohio v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 388

(1989) (footnote omitted); see also Zatler v. Wainwright, 802 F.2d 397 (11th Cir.

32
As already held by the district court.

32
1986).33 Deliberate indifference may be established by a pattern of constitutional

violations, City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 397 (O’Connor, J., concurring in part) or

even by a single decision under “appropriate circumstances.” Pembaur v. City of

Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 480 (1986). The Supreme Court has said that “in light

of the duties assigned to specific officers or employees [where] the need for more

or different training is so obvious, and the inadequacy so likely to result in the

violation of constitutional rights, then the policymakers of the city can reasonably

be said to have been deliberately indifferent to the need.” City of Canton, 489

U.S. at 390.

Should constitutional violations be found at trial in this case, Sheriff

Beary’s liability will depend upon whether he failed to train adequately his

officers in the proper execution of an administrative inspection, and whether this

failure permitted or encouraged his officers’ unconstitutional conduct of the

administrative inspection of Bruce’s Premises. Whether Sheriff Beary had such a

policy is a question of fact. City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 392; Gould v. City of

33
Sheriff Beary, sued in his official capacity, is not, of course, entitled to, nor has he
asserted, the individual capacity defense of qualified immunity. Furthermore, ‘‘where a plaintiff
brings an action against a public official in his official capacity, the suit is against the office that
official represents, and not the official himself.” Welch v. Laney, 57 F.3d 1004, 1009 (11th Cir.
1995).

33
Miami, 151 F.3d 1346, 1351 (11th Cir. 1998).34 On remand, this issue will remain

to be resolved.

With respect to the failure to return Bruce’s property to him after appeal,

despite the state court order to do so, we emphasize that even a single decision by

its policymaker may subject the county to liability for a constitutional violation.

Pembaur, 475 U.S. at 480. As the final decision-maker in the Sheriff’s

Department, see Hufford v. Rodgers, 912 F.2d 1338 (11th Cir. 1990), the Sheriff

had the responsibility to see that Bruce’s property was returned – all of it. As such,

the district court erroneously held that Bruce is required to demonstrate that the

Sheriff had some policy of retention in order to establish a constitutional violation.

2. The Officers’ Entitlement to Qualified Immunity

Having concluded that the facts alleged support a finding of a constitutional

violation in connection with the conduct of the administrative search of Bruce’s

Premises, the officers are entitled to qualified immunity only if the law regarding

the proper scope of administrative searches was not clearly established at the time

the search was conducted. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982). The

34
Root testified that he received no training from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department
relating to either the propriety or scope of administrative inspections. Rather, the scope of the
search was left to his “common sense.” This testimony was corroborated in the depositions of
Kelly and Glantz. Ronald Stucker, Orange County’s Chief of Professional Standards and
Criminal Investigation, testified that he was not familiar with any Orange County training
relating to administrative inspections.

34
district court held that it was not. We disagree. Both Burger and Edmond,

decided before the instant search, made clear that administrative searches are

governed by the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for reasonableness. This

limitation was applied by us in Swint, in which we held unreasonable a similarly

excessive and intrusive administrative search. As such, it was clearly established

that an administrative search must be reasonable under the circumstances and may

not exceed its limited scope. Therefore, we hold that the grant of qualified

immunity to the officers was improvident.

V.

In sum, we hold that the facts as alleged herein create a genuine issue of

material fact as to whether the administrative inspection in this case was

reasonable, as required by the Fourth Amendment. We also hold that there is a

similar issue for trial with respect to the claimed retention of Bruce’s property

after appeal. Finally, we hold that Bruce has created a triable issue of fact with

respect to the existence of a policy of failure to train the officers that, upon

resolution, may subject the Sheriff to liability in his official capacity. We also

hold that the officers are not entitled to qualified immunity from this lawsuit.

Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is vacated in all respects and

the case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with

35
this opinion.

VACATED AND REMANDED.

36
CARNES, Circuit Judge, concurring:

I concur in the Court’s conclusion that the search conducted in this case

violated the plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment rights, but I do not join in all that is

said about that issue in the majority opinion.

There was a Fourth Amendment violation in this case because the scope of

the law enforcement intrusion exceeded that which is permissible during an

administrative search alone. What happened in this case was more of a full scale

raid and the kind of prolonged, top to bottom search that requires a warrant than it

was an administrative search permitted to determine compliance with laws

applicable to a closely regulated business. See Swint v. City of Wadley, Ala., 51

F.3d 988, 998–99 (11th Cir. 1995).

The reason I cannot join the majority opinion is its hand-wringing dicta

suggesting that otherwise valid administrative searches may not be permissible if

there is too much basis for suspecting that evidence of a crime will be found

during the search. The theme of Part III of the majority opinion seems to be that

when it comes to administrative searches a little suspicion is okay, but a lot is not.

To the contrary, I tend to think that this is one area covered by Mae West’s

observation that: “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.” The more reason to

believe a crime has been committed, the better.

37
 The notion that the permissibility of an administrative search varies

inversely with the reason to believe that the search will uncover evidence of a

crime defies logic and finds no support in the law. It is illogical because the more

basis for believing a crime has been committed and that evidence of it can be

found, the more justification there is for the search. In the area of searches

probable cause is a positive factor, not a negative one; a plus, not a minus.

The Supreme Court was presented with an issue of this type in United States

v. Villamonte-Marquez, 462 U.S. 579, 103 S. Ct. 2573 (1983), which involved a

warrantless search by customs officials of a large sailboat anchored in a shipping

channel. Id. at 580–81, 103 S. Ct. at 2575. The search was conducted pursuant to

a statute allowing them to board and inspect the vessel’s manifest and

documentation. Id. One of the defendant’s contentions was that the search was

not motivated by concern about the vessel’s paperwork, but instead grew out of an

informant’s tip that a ship loaded with marijuana would be coming through that

channel. Id. at 584 n.3, 103 S. Ct. at 2577. For that reason, the customs officials

were accompanied by a state law enforcement officer.

In their appeal from convictions for various crimes relating to the

importation of marijuana, the defendants in Villamonte-Marquez argued that the

evidence of drugs found on board should be suppressed, “because the Customs

38
officers were accompanied by a Louisiana State Policeman, and were following an

informant’s tip that a vessel in the ship channel was thought to be carrying

marijuana, they may not rely on the statute authorizing boarding for inspection of

the vessel’s documentation.” Id. In rejecting that argument, which closely

parallels the majority’s dicta in this case, the Supreme Court explained:

This line of reasoning was rejected in a similar situation in Scott v.
United States, 436 U.S. 128, 135–39, 98 S. Ct. 1717, 1722–24 (1978),
and we again reject it. Acceptance of respondent’s argument would
lead to the incongruous result criticized by Judge Campbell in his
opinion in United States v. Arra, 630 F.2d 836, 846 (1st Cir. 1980):
“We would see little logic in sanctioning such examinations of
ordinary, unsuspect vessels but forbidding them in the case of
suspected smugglers.”

Id.
The “incongruous result” rejected by the Supreme Court in

Villamonte-Marquez is the same one that would flow from ruling out

administrative searches of regulated businesses that are motivated by suspicion

rising to the level of probable cause to believe there is criminal activity afoot. To

borrow the words that the Supreme Court borrowed in explaining its

Villamonte-Marquez decision, “We would see little logic in sanctioning such

examinations of ordinary, unsuspect [auto salvage businesses] but forbidding them

in the case of suspected [chop shops].” Id.

The Fifth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Thomas, 973 F.2d 1152 (5th

39
Cir. 1992), is similar to our case, and there the court relied on Villamonte-

Marquez to hold that a public safety investigator’s search of an auto salvage yard

pursuant to an administrative search statute did not violate the Fourth Amendment.

Id. at 1155–56. The investigator searched the business after tracking a salvage

vehicle there. Id. at 1155. During the search, the officer inspected other vehicles

on the lot and seized one along with some VIN plates. As a result of that and

other evidence which flowed from it the defendant was convicted on fourteen

counts of trafficking in vehicles with falsified identification numbers. Id.

The defendant in Thomas argued on appeal that the search of his business

violated the Fourth Amendment because it was not a valid administrative search

because it was not conducted as part of a scheme of periodic and frequent

inspections, but instead was intended to gather information about specific

vehicles. Id. In rejecting that argument the Fifth Circuit explained that,

“[a]dministrative searches conducted pursuant to valid statutory schemes do not

violate the Constitution simply because of the existence of a specific suspicion of

wrongdoing.” Id. at 1155–56.

Also helpful is the decision in United States v. Nechy, 827 F.2d 1161, 1167

(7th Cir. 1987), which rejected the argument that an administrative search of a

pharmacy was unconstitutional because it was motivated by suspicion that the

40
pharmacist was engaged in criminal activity and a desire to build a case against

him. As the Seventh Circuit explained, “it does rather turn the Fourth Amendment

on its head to complain about not the dearth but the plethora of grounds for

believing that a pharmacy that is to be inspected is involved in criminal activity.”

Id.

Our own closest decision to the issue is Crosby v. Paulk, 187 F.3d 1339

(11th Cir. 1999), which involved a 28 U.S.C. § 1983 action that the owners and

manager of a nightclub brought against a sheriff, a drug task force commander,

and a state revenue agent, claiming a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at

1344. The defendants had received numerous complaints about underage drinking

at that and an adjoining nightclub owned by the plaintiffs. Id. at 1324. They knew

those two clubs were among the most serious violators of underage drinking laws

in the area, and there was enough evidence of those violations that the defendants

had already obtained arrest warrants for the clubs’ owners and manager. Id.

The defendants teamed up to carry out an operation involving about forty

law enforcement officers, which had two purposes: conducting an administrative

search to see if underage and Sunday alcohol sales were still occurring, and

executing the arrest warrants that had been obtained for past violations. Id. at

1343. Inside the premises, the officers detained approximately 400 patrons and

41
required them to prove their age. Id. They checked business records and

inspected equipment. Id. The search lasted about two hours and resulted in fifty-

four convictions for underage drinking. Id.

As part of their § 1983 lawsuit the plaintiffs claimed that the administrative

search was per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 1345. We

disagreed. Id. at 1348. In doing so we specifically rejected the plaintiff’s

argument that since the search had been planned in advance, the officers should

have used the available time to obtain a search warrant. Id. We said, among other

things, that “[i]t is not our role to tell local governments how to conduct an

administrative search to enforce the Georgia Alcoholic Beverage Code as to

underage and Sunday alcohol sales.” Id.

In rejecting the argument in Crosby that the administrative search was

improper because the officers could have obtained a search warrant, we did not

quarrel with the premise that the officers had enough time and evidentiary basis to

obtain one. Given the facts of that case it is clear that there was probable cause

aplenty for a search warrant. See id. at 1342–43. Still, we upheld the

administrative search. Id. at 1348. Our Crosby decision refutes the proposition

that administrative searches may not be conducted if there is enough probable

cause for a search warrant.

42
 In the face of our own Crosby decision and the Supreme Court’s decision in

Villamonte-Marquez, as well as the Fifth and Seventh Circuit decisions, the

primary decision that the majority relies on for its counterintuitive concern that

too much evidence of criminality (“at some level of suspicion” Maj. Op. at 15)

will defeat an otherwise permissible search is United States v. Johnson, 408 F.3d

1321 (10th Cir. 2005). Maj. Op. at 14–15. To begin with, a holding from another

circuit cannot undermine the holdings from our own circuit and the Supreme

Court, which we have discussed.

Not only that, but the Tenth Circuit did not hold in Johnson that a high level

of suspicion, or even probable cause, to believe that specific criminal conduct has

occurred rules out an administrative search and requires a warrant. The language

from the Johnson opinion that the majority cites for its own dicta favoring that

proposition is not a holding, but is itself dicta. It is dicta because the Tenth Circuit

in Johnson actually upheld the administrative search in that case. 408 F.3d at

1315, 1321–22. It is dicta because the facts of the Johnson case did not even rise

to the level of direct criminal suspicion, much less probable cause. Id. at 1321

(“This is not the case here. Here, officers did not have ‘direct criminal suspicion’

about [the defendant] or [the auto salvage yard].”).

Even if the Tenth Circuit’s statement in Johnson were the law of that circuit,

43
our Crosby decision shows that it is not the law of this circuit. And the Supreme

Court’s decision in Villamonte-Marquez shows that it ought not be the law

anywhere. Adopting the proposition that more suspicion means less

administrative search authority would, as the Supreme Court explained, lead to the

incongruous result of encouraging searches of businesses not suspected of illegal

conduct while discouraging searches of those suspected of crimes. There is

enough illogic in life without promoting it in the law.

44