Recent Court Rulings

RSS

Facts: When a resident first leased her unit, she listed five people as members of the household.

So why is the moratorium still in effect?

On Feb. 25, an Eastern District of Texas federal judge ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) national eviction moratorium is unconstitutional. The moratorium was implemented by the CDC in September 2020 and was recently extended by the current CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, until March 31, 2021. Even with the decision, the eviction moratorium remains i...

Facts: Ignoring repeated written warnings, a resident continued to smoke in her Section 8 unit and allow her guests to do likewise. And while the multiple complaints from neighbors about her screaming did little to gain the owner’s affections, the last straw was her arrest for attacking a police officer. After a hearing, the PHA concluded that there were grounds to evict her for engaging in violent criminal activity and repeatedly violating the &l...

Facts: An owner claimed that over a course of four years, a Section 8 resident was a major nuisance, harassing the neighbors, stealing packages, making excessive noise, and getting into fights. But all the while it accepted her rent. In November 2018, she was arrested on the premises and charged with felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon. A month later, the owner recertified her lease for another year. But in April 2019, the owner sent the ...

Facts: A few months after a resident moved into his apartment, his next-door neighbor began a relentless campaign of racial harassment, abuse, and threats. From the start of his neighbor’s several-month campaign of harassment, the resident, “fear[ing] for his personal safety,” contacted the police and the owner to complain. His first call to the police prompted the county’s Police Hate Crimes Unit officers to visit the site, inte...

Facts: Before a resident moved into her unit, a new smoke detector with a new battery was installed. The unit was also inspected by a local PHA inspector who found that the unit had the correct number of smoke detectors and that the smoke detectors were working properly. Shortly after the resident moved in, she complained that her smoke detector was constantly sounding and asked the owner how to turn it off. The resident testified that she removed the s...

Facts: After the death of a Section 8 resident, an owner sought to evict a person living in the unit. The occupant claimed succession rights and tried to prove that he lived with the tenant for more than a year before she died from cancer, and that they were involved in an emotionally and financially committed nontraditional family relationship, thus entitling him to succeed to the lease for the unit. The occupant asked the owner to provide:

Facts: A former Section 8 resident sued the local PHA and an owner for alleged housing discrimination and breach of contract. The resident claimed that after making written promises to transfer the resident to a new unit free of dangerous inhalants, the owner refused to deliver keys to the new unit.

The resident had sought medical assistance for shortness of breath, which she believed was caused by mold in her unit. She was advised by a doctor not...

Facts: A resident was terminated from the Section 8 program after the PHA investigated her marital status. The resulting report concluded that she was married and didn’t provide true and correct information about her marital status on two annual questionnaires. The PHA notified her that it was terminating her from the Section 8 program on the grounds of fraud and failure to report her marriage t...

Facts: A local PHA sued its former accountants, seeking to recover losses from their alleged negligent failure to detect the fraudulent conduct of its former executive director and former finance director. The former executive director’s employment agreements established his annual salary at $107,000 for the 2001 fiscal year. The PHA was required to submit annual budget reports to the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) for appr...