Party Organizers Have Sufficient Possessory Interest in Premises to Assert 4th Amendment Rights

In Lyall v. City of Los Angeles, published December 4, 2015, the 9th Circuit reversed summary judgment granted police officers who entered a party at a warehouse without a warrant.  Although the court affirmed the jury verdict in the defendant officers' favor as to the issues that went to trial, it reversed the summary judgment granted on the ground that the party organizers did not have a sufficient expectation of privacy to state a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 cause of action for breach of 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.  Expectation of privacy is not the sole metric for 4th Amendment rights.  If there is an invasion into the property of one who has a sufficient possessory right in the property, that person has a right under the 4th Amendment not to be subject to unreasonable searches or seizures.  Because the party organizers had permission from the sublessor of the warehouse to not only be present at the warehouse, but use it for the party, restrict who could be there, and eject trespassers, they had a sufficient possessory interest to assert a 4th Amendment right against an allegedly unreasonable warrantless entry and search.