Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: An owner who has participated in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program since 2005 claimed that between March and June 2011, he attended local PHA public hearings to voice complaints against the PHA to the public and to the Board of Commissioners. He criticized the PHA for breaching its agreements with HUD by knowingly hiring unqualified and improperly trained inspectors who lacked the required licensing.

Facts: The son of a deceased resident claimed succession rights to his mother’s unit located in a public housing complex. The deceased resident had lived in the unit for approximately 50 years, and throughout her tenancy, paid her rent on time and was in good standing with the owner.

Facts: A former resident sued the owner of a site for seniors for invasion of privacy and harassment. The resident’s unit was subsidized by HUD and the San Diego Housing Commission, and the resident claimed that he was told that he could stay at site indefinitely as long as he obeyed the rules and regulations.

Facts: After living in a unit for almost 14 years, the residents notified the owner of the presence of mold in the unit. Within the month, the owner hired an inspection and testing company, which evaluated the conditions of the residents’ unit.

Facts: A PHA charged a resident with nondesirability based on her son’s possession of marijuana in the unit. The resident had leased the unit as the only named tenant. The charges were settled pursuant to an agreement in which the resident agreed to exclude her son from the unit. Under the terms of the agreement, the resident’s tenancy was placed on probation for five years.

Facts: A native Spanish-speaking resident with limited English proficiency claimed that despite numerous requests to the local PHA to provide language translation services, she had been rebuffed each time. As a result, all major communications, as well as her lease, had been provided to her in English only, and neither the owner nor the PHA provided translation services.

Facts: A resident’s dog attacked a woman as she walked by the site on a roadway. The dog-bite victim sued the site owner for negligence for failing to: (1) adequately screen his residents; (2) enter into an agreement whereby the residents were prohibited from having and keeping vicious dogs; (3) adequately inspect the premises; and (4) comply with legal requirements under state and federal law for ownership of rental property; as well as “ot...

Facts: A Section 8 resident lived in her unit for 26 years, since she came to the United States from Afghanistan. On Nov. 16, 2009, she met with the PHA, after it issued a notice that her Section 8 assistance would be suspended or terminated, due to inaccurate financial information on the annual recertification forms.

Facts: In the late 1990s, a resident became employed for the first time as a bookkeeper. But she failed to disclose her new earnings to the site owner, each year stating in an affidavit of income that she didn’t work. This omission allowed her to pay a substantially lower rent than she would have had she revealed the income.

Facts: A resident filed a complaint with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR) against the owner for housing discrimination based on her race and her disabilities. She claimed that the management company treated her differently in the way it calculated a one-time subsidy for utility payments. She received a one-time annual utility credit in the amount of $225 from Life Line Credit Program of the State of New Jersey. The management company counte...