McKirdy

The Attorney General’s Medi-Cal Fraud Unit obtained from the San Francisco Municipal Court a search warrant for the office and home of Archibald A. McKirdy, M.D., a psychiatrist. Upon execution of the warrant at McKirdy’s office Fraud Unit investigators seized 49 files labelled with the names of patients together with other materials. McKirdy promptly filed in the municipal court a “notice of petition to quash search warrant and for return of property.” The municipal court granted McKirdy’s petition. The Attorney General petitioned respondent superior court for a writ of mandate or prohibition. The superior court issued a peremptory writ of prohibition vacating the municipal court’s order and thus, in practical effect, validating the search. McKirdy then petitioned this court for a writ of mandate or prohibition to vacate the superior court’s order. We initially denied the petition. The Supreme Court granted a hearing and retransferred the cause to us with directions to issue the alternative writ. We have done so. Upon consideration of the written and oral arguments of the parties we conclude that the superior court’s ruling was correct and that the municipal court should…