{"id":64827,"date":"2026-09-20T13:54:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T18:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=64827"},"modified":"2026-09-20T13:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T18:54:02","slug":"m-d-pa-water-authoritys-entry-onto-curtilage-to-cut-off-water-for-nonpayment-was-not-an-unreasonable-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=64827","title":{"rendered":"M.D.Pa.: Water Authority&#8217;s entry onto curtilage to cut off water for nonpayment was not an unreasonable search"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Entering the curtilage to turn off water service for nonpayment of the bill is not a Fourth Amendment seizure or entry. Holland v. Jersey Shore Area Joint Water Auth., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209672 (M.D. Pa. Sep. 16, 2026)*:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>[C]ourts have frequently found that a utility employee&#8217;s entry upon the property of a customer for the sole purpose of shutting off water service, when that shut-off is unaccompanied by any other potential criminal penalty, is constitutionally reasonable conduct which does not violate the Fourth Amendment. \u2026 [As long ago as 1974.] As our sister court has observed when denying a similar Fourth Amendment claim: &#8220;Access to utility service cannot reasonably be construed as a &#8216;personal effect&#8217; which is protected by the Fourth Amendment.&#8221; \u2026 Therefore, the limited intrusion upon the plaintiff&#8217;s curtilage for the sole purpose of cutting off water service for non-payment does not rise to the level of an unreasonable search or seizure condemned by the Fourth Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Entering the curtilage to turn off water service for nonpayment of the bill is not a Fourth Amendment seizure or entry. Holland v. Jersey Shore Area Joint Water Auth., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209672 (M.D. Pa. Sep. 16, 2026)*:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-curtilage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64828,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64827\/revisions\/64828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}