Recent Court Rulings

Resident Didn't Present Enough Facts in Discrimination Lawsuit

May 9, 2019    

Facts: A resident of Iranian national origin filed a discrimination lawsuit against the local PHA and its employees. The resident represented herself and filed the lawsuit on her own without an attorney’s assistance.

Bedbug-Affected Residents Can File Class Action Lawsuit

May 9, 2019    

Facts: A group of residents of a Section 8 site claimed that the site manager didn’t do enough to protect them from bedbugs. Current and former residents of the site asked the court to certify a class based on the PHA’s allegedly inadequate response to a years-long...

Resident Evicted for Assault and Threats Against Manager

April 11, 2019    

Facts: In October 2017, a PHA sent a resident an eviction notice explaining that she had breached her lease by threatening and punching the site manager, violently smacking a clipboard from the manager’s hands, and physically injuring her. The notice identified sections of...

Resident Not Liable for Actions of Her Guests

April 11, 2019    

Facts: A resident’s sister and other guests engaged in a physical and verbal altercation with another resident of the site. The altercation was captured on video, and the police responded to the site. As a result, the owner sent the resident a notice to vacate based on the...

PHA Not Liable for Relocation Benefits

April 11, 2019    

Facts: A resident lived in a formerly federally subsidized property. From 2014 to 2017, the site’s physical conditions deteriorated, as shown by failing Real...

Owner May Be Liable for Tenant-on-Tenant Racial Harassment

March 14, 2019    

Fact: A few months after a Section 8 resident moved into his unit, his next-door neighbor began a relentless campaign of racial harassment, abuse, and threats directed toward him. From the start of the harassment, the resident, “fear[ing] for his personal safety,”...

PHA Liable for Disability Discrimination

March 14, 2019    

Facts: A disabled resident undergoing mental health treatment sued the local PHA for discrimination based on the PHA’s policy concerning “therapy pets.” A month after he moved in, the resident got a cat, and sometime later got a second cat. He claimed that his...

Resident Can't Relitigate Injury Claim Against PHA

February 15, 2019    

Facts: A resident sued the local PHA and HUD for a fractured ankle he suffered when he slipped on a sidewalk in front of the site. The resident alleged that his lease requires the PHA “to maintain the dwelling unit and the project in decent, safe, and sanitary condition,...

Owner Can Evict Resident for Marijuana-Related Lease Violations

February 15, 2019