FBI illegally searched safe deposit boxes, circuit rules

Reversing a district court judge's decision, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled Tuesday that the FBI violated the Fourth Amendment in its search of safe deposit boxes in Beverly Hills.

While the government eventually returned the property of non-criminals who kept medical records and precious metals in the boxes, plaintiffs wanted the government to destroy the records.

9th Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith, an appointee of President George W. Bush who wrote for the panel, said the government's explanation that it needed to do an "inventory search" was insufficient, comparing it to "writs of assistance" used by British colonial officers to search Americans' property.

"It was those very abuses of power, after all, that led to adoption of the Fourth Amendment in the first place," he wrote. Snitko et al. v. USA et al., 2024 DJDAR 650 (9th Circ., filed Nov. 15, 2022).

Attorneys for the class said the FBI action to break open 700 safe deposit boxes and attempt civil forfeiture of any amount in those boxes above $5,000 was illegal. Plaintiffs got their property back after the lawsuit was filed in May 2021 but they wanted the government to destroy the records.

Robert P. Frommer, an attorney with the Institute of Justice who represented the class, hailed the 9th Circuit decision. "Today's ruling was a resounding victory for the Fourth Amendment," he said in a phone interview.

The FBI's search targeted US Private Vaults, which law enforcement officials targeted because the company did not require any personal information to rent a security deposit box and allegedly solicited criminals. The government's rationale was that it had to inventory the contents of each box.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner of Los Angeles, a Bush appointee, ruled in the government's favor, concluding that while investigators "expected, or even hoped, to find criminal evidence during its inventory," that didn't make it "pretextual."

During oral arguments last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor A. Rodgers' defense of the FBI's conduct in a "unique" situation "where there is rampant illegal activity going on like this one," ran into a hostile panel.

9th Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, an appointee of President Donald Trump, referred to the search and inventory as an "egregious" case. Senior 9th Circuit Judge Carlos T. Bea, another Bush appointee, was the third member of the panel. Both concurred with the outcome.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the Central District U.S. attorney's office, declined to comment on the ruling but said the government would comply with the 9th Circuit order.

Frommer said the ruling is "a loud and clear statement that will have consequences. The government's forfeiture activity is fundamentally tainted."