2nd Circuit: Estranged Wife With Shared Property Title Lawfully Arrested for Trespassing

A woman who was arrested after she returned to the house she had shared with her estranged husband to retrieve personal belongings cannot sue for false arrest even though she shared title to the former marital residence, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Vacating a lower court ruling, the court concluded that a deputy sheriff had probable cause to arrest Geneva Finigan for trespass when he responded to a report of a burglary at the upstate New York home occupied by her husband, who was away on vacation.