Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: A resident had lived at an assisted site for approximately 17 years when, in late 2014, the PHA sent him a “notice to move” from the building. The resident asked to rent another specific apartment in the building, but that request was denied. The resident sued the PHA, claiming that the “notice to move” and the denial of his request to rent the other apartment was “clear discrimination” in violation of the Fair...

Facts: A resident had applied and was approved for subsidized housing that entitled him to a unit at a rate below the market value. He was placed on a waiting list, and almost five years later, he was notified of the availability of a unit. By then, he had already secured alternative housing for himself. Rather than reject the unit, he pretended to take possession of the unit for himself but actually gave possession of the unit to his niece, who, as an ...

Facts: In April 2011, a resident signed a lease for a subsidized unit under the Loan Management Set-Aside (LMSA) program. Under the LMSA program, the resident’s initial lease term, and any renewal term, must be for at least one year.

On July 10, 2014, the owner notified the resident that her lease was being terminated. The owner alleged that a guest of the resident engaged in criminal activity. The owner filed an eviction lawsuit and later v...

Facts: An owner served a Section 8 resident with a 30-day termination notice for various illegal activity, which constitutes a breach of the lease. According to the termination notice, on July 10, 2012, the resident’s son was arrested on charges of gang assault in the first degree, and assault in the third degree, for the assault of another tenant at the site. Additionally, in 2005, the son had been arrested for the stabbing of another resident, r...

Facts: An applicant claimed the local PHA unlawfully denied his application for housing and failed to conduct a hearing on his appeal of its administrative decision. He asked the court for an order directing that the PHA provide him with housing.

Facts: Since March 2005, a resident, his wife, and two children have lived in a Section 8 subsidized three-bedroom apartment. In December 2014, the local PHA notified the resident that his four-member family no longer qualified for its three-bedroom apartment, and that his failure to relocate to a two-bedroom apartment if and when one became available would result in forfeiture of his subsidy.

Facts: For more than a decade, a city had been attempting to condemn two buildings on an assisted site. In 2005, the city filed a condemnation action, and the owner argued that its buildings aren’t dilapidated and that the city’s suit should be rejected on that ground, and on the further ground that razing the buildings would have a disparate impact on its predominantly black tenants, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Facts: A Section 8 resident sued the local PHA for discrimination and defamation. In May 2015, the resident started a food truck business with a financial partner who agreed to finance the venture. Anticipating the start of his business, the resident inquired at his annual income certification meeting about the proper way to report the food truck to the PHA. According to his senior housing specialist, he would need to report the business only when he st...

Facts: A salary scandal involving a local PHA official led to a criminal investigation that exposed an alleged conspiracy to rig HUD site inspections. A trial court convicted the PHA’s director of modernization and the PHA’s paid consultant for “knowingly and unlawfully” conspiring to defraud the United States and its agency, HUD, a violation of 18 U.S.C.

Facts: A PHA employee who served as a maintenance manager filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the PHA’s director. In June 1990, the employee was hired by the PHA and worked as a maintenance manager until his termination in March 2007. The employee claimed that his employment was uneventful, with no performance issues or disciplinary action, until early 2007. At that time, HUD placed the PHA in receivership and appointed the director to su...