Fourth Department — Property Inspection Warrants: Cermak v. City of Rochester

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Appellate Division, Fourth Department

Property Inspection Warrants

Pre-emption — Fourth Amendment

Cermak v. City of Rochester
CA 11-00089
Appealed from Supreme Court, Monroe County

Background: The city requires that rental properties have a valid certificate of occupancy, which must be renewed every six years. The renewal process requires the city to inspect the property. The plaintiffs refused to allow the city’s inspectors to access the properties in order to determine if there were any code violations. The city then applied to the court to obtain inspection warrants for the disputed properties. The plaintiffs appealed the issuance of the judicial warrants on the grounds that the warrants did not comply with Article 690 of the Criminal Procedure Law.

Ruling: The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed. The court found that there was nothing in Article 690 that was intended to pre-empt local governments from enacting laws governing property inspection warrants. Further, the Appellate Division found that the property inspection warrants were permissible under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Michael A. Burger of Davidson Fink LLP for the appellants; Igor Shukoff, corporate counsel, for the respondent