Sledgehammer inspections!

[indiansumr1]

Read this in our local paper this morning and just has so wrong written all over it... had to share!

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=313085


Landlord, tenants appeal ruling in sledgehammer case


A city landlord and three tenants have appealed a federal jury's decision in February that city code inspectors did not violate their constitutional rights in April 2007 by using a sledgehammer to break into their apartments for a routine inspection.

Filing in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, landlord Mary Ann Ciarlone and tenants Irene Lora, Anne Baez and Orazio Gerbino claim the trial judge should not have banned testimony by District Judge Wally Scott, who they say heard codes manager Brad Reinhart say he wanted to get back at Ciarlone.

They also claim the judge should not have banned two newspaper stories quoting Scott that he heard Reinhart make that statement.

They also argue the judge failed to instruct the jury that the search warrant the inspectors had was invalid because the inspectors hadn't told the issuing district judge the tenants were never given the required notice of the inspection.

Reinhart and other officials obtained a search warrant in April 2007 allowing them to inspect Ciarlone's three-unit apartment building in the 500 block of Oley Street, but Ciarlone refused to unlock the doors.

Ciarlone told the inspectors that the city never notified the tenants of the inspection, that they had left for work and that she had no authority to unlock their doors.

City officials then broke through the building's front door with a sledgehammer and smashed through each apartment door to make the inspections. They issued a citation to Ciarlone, ordering her to fix the doors.

Ciarlone and the tenants sued the city in 2009. They alleged Reinhart violated their rights and claimed he was retaliating against Ciarlone for her repeated criticism of the city.

After a two-week trial, the federal jury ruled against Ciarlone and the tenants on Feb. 7.


Bad enough they busted down the doors with a Sledgehammer... than they Cite her for the busted doors! AMAZING!!!

[Moparformances]

all this story needs is a few Swastika

[luckydog]

so, were the only violations they found were the broken doors???

[indiansumr1]

As far as I know... They only said the doors in the article but it is my understang that this woman has publically critized the Codes manager and this was a bit of payback. There have been a few other articles and they never said anything about finding anything else wrong in the building.. so who really knows.. I still think they could have just had her arrested for non compliance and called a locksmith, the sledgehammer was going to far.