Lawsuit accuses police of looking into defense attorney’s driving records

A Broward defense lawyer is accusing law enforcement officers of violating her privacy by improperly accessing her driving records, according to a federal lawsuit.

Caroline McCrae, an assistant public defender since 2009, filed her lawsuit Friday, alleging that Fort Lauderdale police and Broward Sheriff’s deputies accessed her driving records three times in 2011 and 2012, even though she had never received a traffic citation or been the subject of a criminal investigation.

On two of the three occasions, the officer accessing the information was under subpoena in a criminal case where McCrae was representing the defendant.

Law enforcement officers are allowed to access motor vehicle records as part of their investigations and official duties, but McCrae’s lawsuit accuses them of abusing the privilege to dig up information with no legitimate purpose.

Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said he was “baffled” by the allegations and that he would be asking lawyers who work for him to check on whether their information was accessed.

“I cannot think of a legitimate reason why running the driver’s license or background of the lawyers is relevant to their testimony in any way,” he said. “It strikes me as a gratuitous use of power.”

McCrae’s private lawyers, Paul Kunz, of the Bander Law Firm in Miami, and cocounsel Michael Greenwald, of Greenwald Davidson Radbil in Boca Raton, suspect McCrae is not alone among her colleagues and are seeking class action status for the lawsuit.

“The systematic violation of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act by police officers is a matter of great concern to public defenders,” Kunz said.

Last month, McCrae asked the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for a list of anyone who had obtained her records between August 2011 and August 2015 through the state’s Driver and Vehicle Information Database, known as D.A.V.I.D.

According to the lawsuit, she learned that a Fort Lauderdale police officer pulled her records on Sept. 17, 2012, 10 days after the same officer was subpoenaed to testify in a felony case.

McCrae represented the defendant in that case.

Two months later, a Broward Sheriff’s deputy pulled her records while he was under subpoena to testify in a separate case, also a third-degree felony. Details about the cases were not included in the lawsuit.

The third alleged instance took place the following August, again involving a sheriff ’s deputy.

The lawsuit includes no information about the timing of that search.

The lawsuit does not allege that the officers used any of the information they gathered.

“By obtaining her motor vehicle records in violation of the DPPA, the City of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County have made plaintiff feel at risk and as if she is subject to law enforcement scrutiny as a result of her work as a public defender,” the lawsuit states.

Attorneys for the city of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County, named as defendants in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment Monday, a religious holiday.