Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: A resident appealed an eviction by the local PHA. From 2009 until 2011, the resident served as the president of the site’s tenant association. In July 2010, he received a check for $1,400 from the PHA to be used for resident participation activities as required by HUD. In 2011, the resident failed to comply with the PHA’s requests for financial documentation of the association checking account, and the PHA’s Financial Management...

Facts: After 18 months of living at a site, a Section 8 African-American resident heard his next-door neighbor call him a racial slur. The resident was shocked and fearful, but didn’t respond. This was the start of a series of threatening encounters with his next-door neighbor. After one incident in which he was called a racial slur several times, the resident phoned 911, and a county hate crimes unit officer arrived and interviewed witnesses. The...

Facts: Two residents filed for a class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, for damages related to their alleged exposure to mold while living in housing developments operated by the local PHA. Originally, the residents sought to define the potential class as all residents affected by mold who occupied units managed by the PHA on Dec. 1, 1980, through the present.

Facts: A PHA sued to evict a resident because he violated the terms of his lease by engaging in “drug-related criminal activity.” Specifically, he smoked marijuana in his unit.

Facts: An owner sued to evict a resident. The complaint alleged that the resident violated the terms of the lease by engaging in a pattern of criminal and harassing behavior, and by failing to make rental payments on time. The complaint further claimed that despite receiving numerous warnings regarding his conduct, the resident refused to stop engaging in the behavior that violated the lease.

Facts: A disabled Section 8 resident is the beneficiary of an irrevocable Special Needs Trust. The resident has no control over the trust, and the trust itself earns little or no interest. The trust was funded entirely from a series of lump-sum settlements from a personal injury and property damage lawsuit, and was created by a court for the resident in 2010. The total amount of the settlement was estimated to be $330,000.

Facts: A disabled African-American resident sued a New York owner for discrimination based on her race or her disability. The resident lives in a one-bedroom unit with a daughter who’s also her live-in aide. According to the owner, the resident never added her daughter as an additional tenant to the lease or as a live-in aid. The resident claimed that even though her name was the next and only name on the waiting list for a two-bedroom unit at the...

Facts: A Section 8 resident failed an initial inspection to check whether she’s maintaining her unit in compliance with federal standards. Federal law requires that all housing assisted by the voucher program meet certain housing quality standards at the start of occupancy and throughout the tenancy. In order to be eligible for continued voucher program benefits, a tenant must let the local PHA inspect the unit at reasonable times and after reason...

Facts: A Section 8 resident sued the former chairperson of the local PHA’s board of commissioners. The resident claimed that the chairperson improperly allowed the director of the Section 8 program at the PHA to terminate the resident from the Section 8 program because of the resident’s race and status as a grandparent.

Facts: Under the Housing Act, HUD provides monetary assistance to PHAs for the development, operation, and maintenance of low-income housing. In exchange for the subsidy, PHAs must comply with federal regulations issued by HUD under the Housing Act. The terms of this grant agreement are set forth in Annual Contributions Contracts between HUD and the PHA.