State v. Shack case brief

State v. Shack case brief

277 A.2d 369

CASE SYNOPSIS: Defendants appealed their convictions for trespass under N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:170-31, in the Cumberland County Court of Law (New Jersey).

FACTS: Defendants, an attorney and health service worker, entered on private property to aid a migrant farmworker housed there. The owner-employer said he would allow defendants to meet with the migrant workers they sought, but only in his presence in his office. When defendants asserted they had a right to meet alone with the worker, the owner summoned the police to remove them for trespass.

ANALYSIS:

The court declined to base its decision on various constitutional principles articulated in support of finding no trespass because it found the constitutional concepts served the migrant workers' interests less than traditional state property law. The court found the owner did not have the right to bar governmental services available to the workers, hence there was no trespass. The court indicated it was unthinkable that the employer could assert a right to isolate the migrant worker in a way significant to the worker's well being as here.

CONCLUSION: The court reversed defendants' conviction for trespass because there was no trespass when the employer was unable to bar access to governmental services available to migrant farm workers.

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