CopyCited 155 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 10461, 1990 WL 77595
...s. In the early 1980s, the company managed 16 or 17 properties which contained a total of approximately 420 commercial tenants. One of these properties was the Plaza Central Shopping Center. 1 In June of 1983, Plaintiff was arrested for violation of section 796.06(1), Florida Statutes, which provides, in pertinent part: [I]t shall be unlawful to let or rent any place, structure, or part thereof ......
...the rest was up to the company. On February 23, Berk telephoned Adams to advise that the company would be receiving a letter from Assistant State Attorney James Benjamin advising of forthcoming prostitution charges against Schannault. No mention of Section 796.06 was made in this letter, which was dated March 1, 1983....
...Berk stated that he would send another letter to help with the Man’s World eviction. On May 18, 1983, Berk and Defendant Kenneth Grimm 5 delivered a letter to Plaintiff which included a computer list of charges that had been filed relating to Man’s World and a copy of Section 796.06, Florida Statutes. Early in 1983, Defendant Grimm had brought Section 796.06 to. the attention of the Chief of the Organized Crime Section of the Broward State Attorney’s Office, who informed Grimm that no case law existed on the statute. Assistant State Attorney Benjamin also discussed Section 796.06 with Grimm, who inquired whether the person that leased the premises to Man’s World could be prosecuted successfully under Section 796.06....
...Benjamin advised Grimm that the lessor could be so prosecuted because Benjamin interpreted the statute to apply not only at the inception of the lease, but also to on-going lease relationships. After speaking with the Chief and Benjamin, Grimm formed the opinion that Section 796.06 applied to an on-going lease situation and that a prostitution conviction was not required in order for a landlord to be culpable under Section 796.-06....
...Grimm asked Plaintiff during the meeting: “Is the [Man’s World] lease still in effect?” When Plaintiff answered “yes,” he was placed under arrest. 6 Defendants Berk and Grimm testified that they believed probable cause existed to arrest Plaintiff for violation of Section 796.06 the day of the arrest, notwithstanding Plaintiff’s cooperation with law enforcement....
...At the time of Plaintiff’s ar *577 rest, Defendants Brescher and Carruthers 7 did not know of Plaintiffs cooperation with the Sheriffs Department, but each testified that such information would not have affected his decision that probable cause existed to arrest Plaintiff for violation of Section 796.06....
...At that time, Solomon did not know that Plaintiff had participated in the photo line-up or that he and Adams had given sworn statements in connection with Schannault. Solomon testified, however, that this information would not have affected her determination that probable cause existed to arrest Plaintiff for violation of Section 796.06 because Plaintiff continued to lease the property after learning that prostitution was occurring on the premises....
...The case against Plaintiff was dismissed on August 24. Procedural History This case was tried in August of 1987. At the close of Plaintiffs case, Defendants moved for a directed verdict on the grounds that probable cause for Plaintiffs arrest existed under Section 796.06 and that Defendants’ conduct was objectively reasonable....
...re denied. Prior to charging the jury, the district court ruled on three issues that had been previously briefed by the parties. First, the court rejected Plaintiff’s contention that Plaintiff was categorically outside the scope of parties to whom section 796.06 applied by finding that the statute could apply to a landlord who does not know of an intended illegal purpose at the time of entering into the lease but who thereafter learns his tenant intends to use it for such a purpose....
...In a lengthy order, the district court found as a matter of law that Defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity. See Von Stein v. Brescher,
696 F.Supp. 606 (S.D.Fla.1988). The district court was in unequivocal agreement with the interpretation advanced by the Defendants. They contended that [Section
796.06] would be violated at any time during the pendency of a lease so long as the lessor lets the place, with the knowledge that the place will thereafter be used for purposes of prostitution, assignment or lewdness....
...Accordingly, applying the qualified immunity test in the context of Plaintiff’s alleged unlawful arrest, we must determine whether reasonable officers in the same circumstances and possessing the same knowledge as the Defendants could have believed that probable cause existed to arrest Plaintiff for violation of section 796.06....
...The evidence indisputably revealed that Plaintiff knew prostitution was occurring at Man’s World. In fact, Plaintiff testified that, at least by 1982, he had no doubt that prostitution was occurring at Man’s World. Upon review of the record, we find that, in 1983, a reasonable law officer could have believed that Section 796.06 applied to a landlord who leases premises which were thereafter used for prostitution, if the landlord had knowledge of such use at any time during the term of the lease. The record reveals that such an interpretation was embraced not only by prosecutors Benjamin and Solomon, it was accepted by the district court below. While the district court avoided a finding of probable cause by construing Section 796.06 to require the element of mens rea, we find that reasonably competent persons could disagree on this interpretation of the statute. 11 In addition, the testimony established that, prior to the instant case, Section 796.06 had never been subject to judicial interpretation....
...While the defamatory statement in Marrero was made in connection with an illegal seizure, and therefore was clearly actionable under Paul , we have decided in this case that the Defendants in the instant case did not act unreasonably in arresting Plaintiff for violation of Section 796.06....
...position,” Dependable Life Insurance Co. v. Harris,
510 So.2d 985 , 988 n. 7 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987) (quoting Restatement 2d of Torts § 46(e)), we have found that Defendants did not act unreasonably in arresting Plaintiff for the alleged violation of section
796.06....
...st the interest in enabling public officials to act independently without fear of consequences.” Waldrop v. Evans,
871 F.2d 1030, 1033 (11th Cir.1989). 11 . In so holding, we emphasize that we do not necessarily agree with the interpretation given Section
796.06 by the district court and by Assistant State Attorneys Benjamin and Solomon....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | District Court, S.D. Florida | 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11089, 1988 WL 102537
...On June 1, 1983, Defendant Grimm telephoned Plaintiff and inquired whether he could visit Plaintiff that day at his office. Although Plaintiff had just returned from vacation, he agreed. On that date, Defendants Grimm, Carruthers and Berk went to Plaintiff's office and arrested Von Stein pursuant to Florida Statute section 796.06 which makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to rent space for the purpose of prostitution....
...Our feeling is we can get to the money behind them and to the organization behind them and put a hurt on them, that we can achieve some effective results. On July 8, 1983, the State Attorney filed an Information charging Von Stein with the violation of sections
796.06,
775.082 and *612
775.083 of the Florida Statutes....
...able police officer could have believed that the arrest of the Plaintiff was lawful in light of clearly established law and the information that these arresting officers possessed. See, Anderson,
107 S.Ct. at 3040,
97 L.Ed.2d at 532. Florida Statute section
796.06(1) provides in pertinent part that it shall be unlawful to let or rent any place, structure, or part thereof, trailer or other conveyance, with the knowledge that such place, structure, trailer, or conveyance will be used for the purpose of lewdness, assignation, or prostitution....
...Tomaszewski,
833 F.2d 1532, 1535 (11th Cir. 1987) (per curiam) (quoting Draper v. United States,
358 U.S. 307, 313,
79 S.Ct. 329, 333,
3 L.Ed.2d 327 (1959) ( quoting Carroll v. United States,
267 U.S. 132, 162,
45 S.Ct. 280, 288,
69 L.Ed. 543 (1925)). A violation of section
796.06 requires the existence of two elements: (1) the accused must lease or rent a structure, (2) with the knowledge that the place will be used for the purpose of lewdness, assignation or prostitution....
...e was proceeding to do what he could do to evict the tenants. In their probable cause determination, Defendants apparently relied on the advice of the office of the State Attorney that a formal prosecution of Von Stein could be initiated pursuant to section 796.06 [Defendants' Brief at 5], and that Von Stein had been twice notified by letter that some arrests had been made at Man's World Center....
