Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 09:20:01 -0500
From: "Patton, Stewart" 
To: 'Rupert Scammell' 
Subject: RE: Cited case does not establish that "dumpster diving is legal"


> Hey,
> 
> Your web site is interesting, but the following statement from your site
> is absolutely untrue:  "The legality of trashing and dumpster diving was
> established in the landmark Supreme Court ruling California vs. Greenwood
> (486 U.S. 35, 108 S.Ct. 1625) in 1988."
> 
> CA v. Greenwood only established that it does not violate the Fourth
> Amendment--which says that the government cannot engage in an
"unreasonable
> search or seizure"--for the police to arrest a guy based on evidence found
> in the guy's garbage (like, in this case, drugs) because one cannot have a
> reasonable expectation that stuff they throw in the garbage will remain
> private.  The Fourth Amendment protects private citizens from government
> action, and it has no application in the case of you and your friends
> looking through dumpsters.
> 
> A better legal principle upon which to ground your claim that dumpster
> diving is legal is the principle that one no longer has any claim to
> property after he abandons it.  These stores abandon the property by
putting
> it in the dumpster, so anyone else wanting to take it can take it free
> and clear of their claim.
> 
> Of course, states can regulate dumpster diving if they want to, so the
best
> practice would be for you to check your state's statutes.  It would
probably
> also be best for your web site to advise others to do so (like almost all
> other web sites on this subject do).
> 
> I am in law school, so let me give you the standard disclaimer:  nothing
> above constituted legal advice; it should not be relied upon by anyone and
> to do so would be unreasonable becuase it may be completely and totally
> wrong.
> 
> Happy diving,
> 
> Stewart