{"id":8869,"date":"2013-06-11T16:52:44","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T01:59:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-10T20:02:11","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=8869","title":{"rendered":"Bankr.D.Mont.: By declaring bankruptcy, one has a reduced expectation of privacy in his assets, even undisclosed ones"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bankruptcy trustee is not acting as a government agent for Fourth Amendment purposes [a proposition I completely reject because they are agents of the government: the one bankruptcy hearing day I watched, the Bankruptcy Judge referred to them as \u201cmy trustees\u201d; and see Taunt v. Barman (In re Barman)<\/a>, 252 B.R. 403, 412-13 (Bankr. E.D. Mich.2000)]. At any rate, the defendant was obligated as a person filing bankruptcy to list his assets under oath, and that was essentially a waiver of his expectation of privacy. He had a significantly reduced expectation of privacy in a cache of gold and silver which he failed to disclose on the bankruptcy that the trustee learned about, and the trustee could go looking for it. The court also notes that the bankrupt was a member of the “sovereign” movement. In re Bodeker, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 2336 (Bankr. D. Mont. June 7, 2013):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Judge Darnell’s decision in Burke cites Kerlo [In re Kerlo<\/a>, 311 B.R. 256 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2004)] and Barman [Taunt v. Barman (In re Barman)<\/a>, 252 B.R. 403, 412-13 (Bankr. E.D. Mich.2000)] in holding, under the totality of the circumstances, that even if a defendant could demonstrate a subjective expectation of privacy in the residence or specific property seized, “this expectation of privacy is not one that society is prepared to recognize as legitimate” because the defendant should have disclosed the property in his bankruptcy proceedings. United States of America v. Burke, 2009 WL 173829 *10 (E.D. Cal.). “It is therefore troubling that defendant seeks to assert a legitimate expectation of privacy in documents that he was required by law to expose to the public.” Id. As this Court stated above, debtors in bankruptcy have burdens as well as benefits. Renn was required to disclose his gold and silver in his sworn Schedules, but failed his burden.<\/p>\n

Considering the totality of the circumstances in this case, the Court concludes that Renn failed to show that he had an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy when his attorney consented and advised Renn to allow the Trustee to follow him to his residence and search for undisclosed assets, including the gold and silver. Kerlo, 311 B.R. at 265-66; Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. at 740; Burke, 2009 WL 173829 at *10. Just as in Kerlo, the Court concludes that Brandon’s search and orderly removal of personal property does not implicate any Fourth Amendment rights. 311 B.R. at 266. The Court overrules Debtor’s objection to the Trustee’s sale based on the Fourth Amendment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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