Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: A Section 8 resident was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her physician prescribed medicinal marijuana to help with her symptoms, and she obtained a medical marijuana card issued by the State of Michigan pursuant to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Facts: A resident with a Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher sued an owner in federal court, claiming that the owner failed to keep his unit habitable, invaded his privacy, and caused his voucher to be terminated by the PHA because his rental unit hadn’t been kept in good repair.

Facts: During a dispute with an owner over utilities, a Section 8 resident asked her local PHA for a transfer of her voucher to another unit. The PHA denied her request because she wasn’t in good standing with her current owner and after submitting additional hearing requests, she was again denied.

Facts: Two nonprofit insurance trade associations filed a lawsuit against HUD, challenging its final rule providing for liability based on disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). HUD had recently finalized regulations that were intended to codify how a disparate impact claim is established, including the respective burdens that the plaintiffs and defendants must carry. Under “disparate impact,” a person may be held liable for disc...

Facts: In 2010, a Section 8 resident fell behind in paying her portion of her unit’s subsidized rent. The owner started an eviction lawsuit. The court issued an “Order for Possession,” finding that the owner was entitled to possession of the resident’s unit.

Facts: As a participant in the voucher program, a resident attended a recertification meeting in November 2010. In her recertification application, she stated that she didn’t receive income from self-employment, and listed Social Security payments as the sole source of income for herself and her five children.

Facts: On June 1, 2012, a PHA executed a housing assistance payments (HAP) contract with an owner, and the owner entered into a Section 8 lease with a resident. The rent under the contract was $1,250; the PHA provided assistance of $1,216 per month, making the resident’s rent $34 per month.

Facts: A site manager claimed that her former employer retaliated against her for opposing unlawful housing discrimination and unlawful employment discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She claimed that she was harassed and ultimately terminated by the owner because she opposed a supervisor’s instruction to deny tenancy to Russian applicants who applied for vacancies in the affordable housing building she managed...

Facts: A resident sued the local PHA for injuries she suffered when another resident’s dog bit her. The other resident had acquired the dog, a pit bull, in late 2009. The suing resident described the dog as aggressive and vicious, barking at her ferociously, and jumping on the chain-link fence to snarl at anyone who passed by. But the dog’s owner kept the dog in a fenced area, and the suing resident never confronted her about it.

Facts: A prospective resident sued two private apartment building owners for refusing to rent him a unit. The prospective resident tried to rent a unit using a voucher provided through the local PHA. But after he applied for a unit, each owner informed him that he hadn’t been approved due to his criminal background—specifically, his status as a lifetime registered sex offender.