Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: In 2008, when a resident filled out a continued occupancy form for a unit, she included her daughter as one of the people who would live in the subsidized unit, and use it as her primary residence, during the next 12 months. In signing the form, the resident certified that the information she had provided was accurate and complete and that any false statements or information would be grounds for termination from the program.

Facts: A resident’s daughter was arrested at the resident’s unit approximately 10 minutes after signing in on the site’s visitor log. The daughter was wanted by the police for allegedly stabbing a family member in the leg with a knife during an altercation.

Facts: The City of Tempe, Ariz., challenged the authority of the Arizona Attorney General (AAG) to investigate a complaint alleging discriminatory housing practices against a municipal corporation. The City of Tempe is organized as a municipal corporation that operates Tempe Housing Services (THS), a public housing agency. THS administers the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program through which HUD provides rental subsidies to eligible families and individuals living in approved housing units.

Facts: When a resident filled out a PHA’s application, he noted he was a registered sex offender. Although the PHA doesn’t permit registered sex offenders into its housing program, it admitted him. The PHA didn’t read his application carefully, if at all; instead, it relied on a preliminary background check to accept the resident into the program.

Facts: A resident appealed an eviction by the local PHA. From 2009 until 2011, the resident served as the president of the site’s tenant association. In July 2010, he received a check for $1,400 from the PHA to be used for resident participation activities as required by HUD. In 2011, the resident failed to comply with the PHA’s requests for financial documentation of the association checking account, and the PHA’s Financial Management Office confirmed that the check had been cashed and deposited into the resident’s personal bank account.

Facts: After 18 months of living at a site, a Section 8 African-American resident heard his next-door neighbor call him a racial slur. The resident was shocked and fearful, but didn’t respond. This was the start of a series of threatening encounters with his next-door neighbor. After one incident in which he was called a racial slur several times, the resident phoned 911, and a county hate crimes unit officer arrived and interviewed witnesses. The officer admonished the neighbor about the alleged racial epithets, and the resident filed a police report.

Facts: Two residents filed for a class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, for damages related to their alleged exposure to mold while living in housing developments operated by the local PHA. Originally, the residents sought to define the potential class as all residents affected by mold who occupied units managed by the PHA on Dec. 1, 1980, through the present.

Facts: A PHA sued to evict a resident because he violated the terms of his lease by engaging in “drug-related criminal activity.” Specifically, he smoked marijuana in his unit.

Facts: An owner sued to evict a resident. The complaint alleged that the resident violated the terms of the lease by engaging in a pattern of criminal and harassing behavior, and by failing to make rental payments on time. The complaint further claimed that despite receiving numerous warnings regarding his conduct, the resident refused to stop engaging in the behavior that violated the lease.

Facts: A disabled Section 8 resident is the beneficiary of an irrevocable Special Needs Trust. The resident has no control over the trust, and the trust itself earns little or no interest. The trust was funded entirely from a series of lump-sum settlements from a personal injury and property damage lawsuit, and was created by a court for the resident in 2010. The total amount of the settlement was estimated to be $330,000.