Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: A resident visited the management office seeking a rent adjustment, which she believed was warranted by the recent termination of disability assistance that had been granted her after a difficult pregnancy. She gave a resident services associate some documentation that she believed established the loss of benefits. The associated pointed out to her that the documentation was inconclusive on the issue of whether the disability assistance had in fa...

Facts: A local PHA notified a resident that he had committed a “one-strike” violation when he had wrongfully assaulted one of its security guards, in violation of his lease agreement. The notice also stated that the resident had threatened to shoot another resident, while repeatedly knocking on her apartment door and calling her vile names, and inflict bodily harm upon members of the PHA’s staff.

Facts: A Section 8 resident challenged the local PHA’s decision to terminate his benefits. The resident claimed that he has a qualifying disability under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Americans with Disabilities Act. He further alleged that he requested an accommodation for his disability and the PHA failed to provide him with a reasonable accommodation.

Facts: A former manager of a Section 8 site sued her former employer for alleged age, race, and religious discrimination. The owner claimed that the manager was terminated for her failure to perform her duties in a professional manner.

Facts: A prospect with a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher sued an owner for discrimination based on her status as a public assistance recipient in violation of the state's human rights act. The prospect found a listing for a three-bedroom unit with an advertised rent that was within the voucher program limits. She claimed that when she called the office to ask about renting the unit, she disclosed that she would be using a voucher to pay the rent an...

Facts: When a police officer was dispatched to a resident's unit to investigate a noise complaint, the officer detected the odor of recently burnt marijuana emanating from the unit and observed smoke lingering in the air. Two of the resident's guests told the officer that they had smoked marijuana in the unit.

Facts: A 73-year-old Section 8 resident was served with a 10-day eviction notice. The notice claimed that the resident had violated a substantial obligation of her lease agreement by "exhibit[ing] a chronic and systematic propensity for paying [her] rent late each month, allow[ing] arrears to accumulate over periods of months, and hav[ing] compelled the Landlord to commence numerous non-payment proceedings to collect rent" during the past 22 y...

Facts: A Section 8 resident sued her local PHA and an employee for discrimination against her due to her race, religion, and an undisclosed learning disability. The basis of the lawsuit stemmed from a conversation the resident had with the employee. The resident didn’t say when the conversation took place or provide any context for the exchange that occurred.

Facts: A resident in a public housing complex operated by the local PHA slipped and fell in a puddle of water that had leaked from a broken washing machine in a nearby laundry room as she was walking to her unit through a common hallway of her building. The fall resulted in injuries to her foot and ankle.

Facts: A resident’s daughter tripped and fell in a playground owned, operated, and maintained by the local PHA. The daughter was playing with a soccer ball in the playground. At one point, the ball traveled into a nearby planter. The daughter went into the planter to retrieve the ball and, in attempting to exit the planter, tripped over one of the metal wickets in the wicket fence surrounding the planter and fell, injuring her right arm. The resid...