Court of Appeals Supports Fourth Amendment, Rules Against Drone Footage

[XLFD]

Todd and Heather Maxon live in Long Lake Township up in Grand Traverse County.  Township officials suspected that the Maxons had an illegal salvage yard on their property, but couldn't verify that suspicion using the usual means.  So the township took the effort to hire a contractor to fly a drone over the land they could not get a look at and take pictures in 2017 and 2018.  They were not granted permission by the Maxons or any other specific legal authorization such as a warrant.

Long Lake Township filed a civil action against the Maxons using pictures taken by the drone to make their case that there was enough junk cars and scrap to qualify as a salvage yard on the property.  The Maxons argued generally that they had a reasonable expectation of privacy that was violated by the township's use of a drone to photograph their property and that the drone operator’s noncompliance with FAA regulations was pertinent to the Fourth Amendment analysis.  The trial court judge disagreed, relying on precedent from a Supreme Court case which ruled that property views from a helicopter flying overhead was not a 'search'.  That ruling was appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals (COA).

On March 18, 2021, the State of Michigan Court of Appeals published their opinion holding that “persons have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their property against drone surveillance, and therefore a governmental entity seeking to conduct drone surveillance must obtain a warrant or satisfy a traditional exception to the warrant requirement.”  They remanded back to the trial court for entry of an order suppressing all photographs taken of the Maxons' property from a drone.

This is a victory for Fourth Amendment rights if it is not appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court and reversed.  For government agents to use drones to gain an advantageous view of personal property normally unseen from adjacent properties or from aircraft, they must convince a court officer to issue a warrant.  Either that or be in hot pursuit of a fugitive or other exigent circumstances traditionally allowing emergency warrantless searches.

But be careful; even though the law may protect your privacy in situations like these, shooting down a drone can still get you in trouble with the law as drones have much of the same protections as aircraft, especially if it's a police drone.  If you find a drone flying over your property's airspace take pictures and try to determine who may be trying to invade your privacy (then report or sue them) and if they become a regular nuisance, buy yourself a cheap jammer and have some fun with your new toy from heaven.

[Willy]

I had no idea this court battle was going on. Thanks for the post X. For now the Constitution prevails.