Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: A resident's lease required the resident, when notified, to prepare her unit for treatment by an exterminator and to provide the PHA with access to the unit for that purpose. In February 2010, the PHA advised the resident and others that the building would be treated for bedbugs.

Facts: An African-American resident who lived for many years in housing provided by the local PHA was responsible for paying rent in the amount of $50 per month. And he had subsisted on a “Zero Income Certification” in which he certified that he was receiving no income from any source.

Facts: The lease agreement between a resident and a PHA included provisions requiring management approval before anyone else would be allowed to live in the unit and specifically mandating that no one besides the resident herself could stay in the unit for more than 14 consecutive days without management’s written consent.

Facts: A Section 8 resident challenged the local PHA’s calculation of her income in court. In 2013, the resident received a substantial lump-sum payment of child support arrears from her children’s father. The PHA treated the lump-sum payment as income in 2013 and calculated a repayment amount it claimed it was owed by the resident. The resident used the lump-sum payment to pay the PHA. She appealed the repayment amount to an administrative hearing officer, who upheld the PHA’s calculations and repayment plan.

Facts: An owner of a Section 8 project-based site sued to evict a resident for false information she allegedly provided on her application for a unit. In August 2011, the resident completed an application in which she truthfully reported that she was employed by Walmart and was not on medical leave. Because there was no unit available at the time, the owner placed her name on a waiting list.

Facts: A local PHA terminated a resident from the Housing Choice Voucher program after learning that her husband had listed her unit as his mailing address. The resident and her husband were married in August 2002. A few months later, they separated and he moved out of the resident’s unit. After an informal hearing, the PHA concluded that he was residing in her household as an unauthorized occupant.

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 fact been terminated. The resident was told to come back with more paperwork.

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.