If you say ”yes” to a police officer who politely asks permission to search your car, can you later contend you were coerced by your confrontation with the cop?
The answer to that question appears to be ”no,” according to a ruling last week in a federal class-action lawsuit brought against Metra by about 130 employees at the commuter rail agency`s 47th Street yards in Chicago.
The employees contended their constitutional rights were violated when Metra police stationed themselves at an exit to a parking lot on Sept. 4, 1990, and asked to search employee cars or vans. The searches were in response to thefts at the 47th Street facility.
Lawyers for the employees accused Metra of violating their 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The civil rights suit sought $3 million in damages.
Metra`s attorneys-including Fred Sperling at Schiff Hardin & Waite-contended signs were clearly posted at entrances to the parking lot, at 47th Street and Wentworth Avenue, warning that vehicles entering or leaving Metra property were subject to search. At no time that afternoon did Metra police officers verbally threaten employees or brandish weapons, according to written arguments filed in the case.
But William D. O`Donaghue, one of the lawyers for employees, argued the searches were illegal because employees knew they couldn`t get out of the lot unless they gave their consent. In effect, they were being held unlawfully before anyone asked to search their cars, so their consent wasn`t valid, O`Donaghue said.
U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen cut through the legalisms in his six-page ruling. There was no coercion, he decided, because employees either consented to the search, complied with requests to open trunks or otherwise did not object.
To rule otherwise, the judge wrote, ”would effectively invalidate the ability of any citizen to consent to anything requested by a police officer. This court is simply not willing to go that far.”
O`Donaghue promises an appeal.
New lawyer agency chief
The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission announced officially Monday what had been rumored recently in legal circles:
Elgin lawyer Mary Robinson takes over March 16 as new administrator of the ARDC, the state agency that investigates allegations of attorney misconduct.
Robinson has been a lawyer since 1975 and headed the state appellate defender`s Elgin office before going into private practice in 1982. She has been a member of the ARDC`s seven-member policy-making board since 1989.
The commission believes Robinson`s experience will allow her to take a larger view of attorney discipline problems without ignoring individual cases, said Chicago lawyer and commission member David Hartigan, who chaired its search committee.
Straddling the bench
The sentencing of former Cook County Judge David Shields, convicted on federal bribery charges, was postponed last week when it appeared for awhile that U.S. District Judge Ilana Rovner would get a chance to view court proceedings from a different perspective.
Rovner rescheduled the sentencing after she was selected as a juror at the Daley Center for what was supposed to be a four-day civil trial in Cook County Circuit Court. On Wednesday, though, moments before testimony was to begin, Circuit Court Judge Leonard Levin decided the case for the defense.
Rovner said she ”was heartbroken” that she lost an opportunity to be a juror.
Both lawyers in the case, Edwin Plaza of Goldstein & Fluxgold and Larry Schechtman of Querrey & Harrow, had appeared before Rovner in her own court.
”It just thrilled me that they thought I could be fair,” she said.
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True to form, Rovner befriended her fellow jurors. ”They`re all coming to visit me” in her courtroom, she said.
– NEW PARTNER. It`s Tuesday morning, and for a young, bright-eyed lawyer like Marc W. Martin of Genson, Steinback & Gillespie, this day is special.
Congratulations, Marc! Before your eyes, in the unmistakable black and white print of this column, is the announcement of your promotion to partner of the firm-after a successful apprenticeship as an associate, developing expertise in civil and criminal forfeiture work.
But rather than spend a lot of money on engraved announcements, fellow partners Edward Genson, Jeffrey Steinback and Terence Gillespie opted for this novel-and Jack Benny-approach.
They assure us, though, there will be rewards aplenty. Like this column, Marc, get it in writing.
– BACK UP THE SQUADROL. U.S. Atty. Fred Foreman raised a few eyebrows-and maybe a bit of perspiration-among the 50 or so lawyers at a Chicago Bar Association luncheon Friday when he observed: ”I know many of you practice white-collar crime and in that area.”
On a serious note, Foreman offered his personal proposal for reforming the way state judges are selected. He said judicial hopefuls should begin taking classes as early as law school and go through some sort of
certification procedure before becoming eligible for appointment or election to the bench.
– LAW BRIEFS. Trial lawyer Howard C. Emmerman is a new partner at Katz, Randall & Weinberg. He had been a partner and practice group leader at Rudnick & Wolfe. . . . Pamela Lenane, vice president of the Chicago Board of Education, has opened her own law office at 3142 S. Halsted St. She was formerly a partner at Katten, Muchin & Zavis. . . . Judge Richard Posner of the federal appeals court in Chicago talks about sexuality and the law Thursday at a Federal Bar Association lunch at Chicago Bar Association headquarters, 321 S. Plymouth Ct.