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The federal lawsuit, filed Oct. 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, claims the city and its Lansing Code Compliance officer violated the Fourth and 14th amendments when a code officer entered her home alongside animal control staff who had a warrant.

In the lawsuit seeking more than $350,000 in damages, Fitzpatrick claims invasion of privacy, due process violations and that the city has "adopted by practice" an unconstitutional policy that allows code enforcement to enter homes without a search warrant or proper due process.

Scott Bean, a spokesperson for the city, declined to comment. Nick Bostic, one of Fitzpatrick's attorneys, did not provide comment by publication.

Fitzpatrick's legal trouble began in September 2021. Kyle Hanney, of Ingham County Animal Control, went to her home and asked about her ownership of, and care of, the animals, according to the lawsuit, and she invited him in. Hanney found many items in the home to be coated with what appeared to be chicken feces, he later testified. He also found chickens in the basement and noticed a strong odor of ammonia in the house. Most of the cages lacked food or water, he added, and some chickens were missing feathers. Dustyn Coontz, Fitzpatrick's attorney on her criminal case, didn't try to hide the conditions in the home from the jury. Instead, he presented a case that showed Fitzpatrick was not only capable of caring for the animals, but she might be better suited for it than the agency that took them away.

"I think Belinda Fitzpatrick is incredibly responsible when taking care of these animals," he said during his closing argument at trial. "I don't think she takes very good care of herself. ... But she can take care of some chickens. She can take care of 27 chickens. She can take care of three ducks."

The jury deliberated for about two hours before finding Fitzpatrick not guilty. When she got her chickens back from animal control days later, six of them had died.

Hanney testified during the 2022 trial that while Fitzpatrick let him in the one house, she denied entry into the second home so he obtained a search warrant. When he and other animal control officers returned with a search warrant, Hanney allowed a code compliance officer to accompany them into the second home, according to the lawsuit.

"As of Sept. 21, 2021, it was clearly established that a public official could not invite third parties into premises being searched without a warrant authorizing that entry or a recognized exception to the warrant requirement," the lawsuit claims.

Code compliance officer Matthew Simon, after entering the homes, then placed a red tag notice on both, meaning they weren't fit for Fitzpatrick or her animals.

"No reasonably reasonably trained and experienced ordinance enforcement officer would have believed that entry into (Fitzpatrick's) home ... was lawful," her attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.

The suit states Fitzpatrick suffered because of "the loss of use of her [homes], loss of companionship of her pets, unnecessary expenses for unnecessary repairs to the home, unreasonable monthly assessment fees, attorney fees, humiliation and embarrassment."