Legal aid access to farm to aid migrant farmworkers held not to be a trespass

In a case reminiscent of the well-known case of State v. Shack, , 277 A.2d 369 (N.J. 1971), a federal judge applying Maryland state law has held that lawyers have a right to enter farmland to provide services to migrant farmworkers and that such an entry is not a trespass even if it is against the wishes of the land owner. Rivero v. Montgomery Cnty., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67170 (D. Md. 2017). The court noted that the First Amendment “protects individuals’ right to impart information and opinions to citizens at their homes” (citing Schneider v. New Jersey, 308 U.S. 147, 152 (1939) and that state statutes provided that, while one cannot enter cultivated land without the permission of the owner, the law “does not…prevent a person who resides on cultivated land from receiving a person who seeks to provide a lawful service.” Md. Code, Crim. Law §6-406(b), (d)(2)(i).