Tanenbaum Keale LLP partner Afigo I. Okpewho-Fadahunsi was recently published in the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section’s Appellate Advocacy newsletter on the Second Circuit’s decision in United States v. Lyle.
The panel’s decision, Okpewho-Fadahunsi wrote, “centered on the Fourth Amendment question regarding the warrantless search and seizure of a rental car, specifically, whether an unauthorized driver may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a rental car.”
She noted that the Second Circuit relied on U.S. v. Byrd, in which the Supreme Court considered whether a driver, transporting a significant amount of narcotics, had a reasonable expectation of privacy in a rental car when he was not listed as an authorized driver on the rental agreement.
“In relying on Byrd, the Second Circuit concluded that Lyle lacked standing to assert a reasonable expectation of privacy defense not just because he was an unauthorized driver under the rental agreement, but because he was an unlicensed one. Thus, under Byrd, he was not in lawful possession of the rental car because his license was suspended and he could not have driven even his own car.”
Next month, Okpewho-Fadahunsi will begin her term as chair of the Appellate Advocacy Committee.