Housing Authority of Town of Morristown v. Little

• Decision Date: 11 April 1994
• Citation: 639 A.2d 286,135 N.J. 274
• Parties: HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE TOWN OF MORRISTOWN, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Cathy LITTLE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

Page 274

135 N.J. 274

639 A.2d 286

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE TOWN OF MORRISTOWN, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Cathy LITTLE, Defendant-Appellant.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued Nov. 8, 1993.

Decided April 11, 1994.

Gerald R. Brennan, Morristown, argued the cause for appellant (William F. Matrician, Legal Director, Legal Aid Society of Morris County, attorney).

Erica Sawyer, Newark, argued the cause for respondent (Mandel, Berezin, Booker & Rodner, attorneys; Ernest R. Booker, of counsel).

David G. Sciarra, Sr. Atty., Edison, argued the cause for amicus curiae Legal Services of New Jersey (Melville D. Miller, Jr., President, Edison, attorney; Mr. Miller, Mr. Sciarra, and Cesar Torres, Managing Attorney, Newark, on the brief).

Claudette L. St. Romain, Jersey City, submitted a brief on behalf of amicus curiae Hudson County Legal Services Corp. (Timothy K. Madden, Director, attorney).

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, Justice.

The issue presented by this appeal is whether N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.6 of the Tenant Hardship Act, which grants courts the power to stay an eviction up to a maximum of six months, restricts a court's power to vacate a judgment for possession on equitable grounds pursuant to Rule 4:50-1.

The Housing Authority of the Town of Morristown (Authority) instituted a summary dispossess action against a tenant, Cathy Little. The trial court entered a default judgment for possession in favor of the Authority based on nonpayment of rent. See N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1.a. The court also issued a warrant of removal. See N.J.S.A. 2A:18-57. After the warrant had been executed and Little had been evicted, the court issued a stay of the warrant and allowed Little to return to her apartment. The court then vacated the judgment pursuant to Rule 4:50-1 on Little's payment of the back rent in full to the Authority. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that the Tenant Hardship Act (the Act), L. 1957, c. 110, limited a court's authority to vacate a judgment for possession, and that the facts did not justify the application of Rule 4:50. 263 N.J.Super. 368, 622 A.2d 1343 (1993). We granted certification, 134 N.J. 476, 634 A.2d 523 (1993), and now reverse.

I

Defendant, Cathy Little, rents an apartment from the Authority, a public-housing agency created pursuant to N.J.S.A. 55:14A-1. She lives with her five minor children and receives both food stamps and benefits under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. The rent for the apartment is $125 per month. In April 1992 the Authority filed a complaint for summary dispossess alleging nonpayment of rent as the sole basis for relief. When the complaint was filed, Little was one month behind in her rent. On the return date of the complaint, Little failed to appear and the Authority obtained a default judgment for possession. See R. 6:6-3(b). The Authority filed a request for a warrant of removal. Little obtained an order to show cause temporarily staying the execution of the warrant. Because she had been out of town trying to collect the money for the rent, Little arrived late to court on the return date of the order. The court had already vacated the stay by the time Little arrived at the designated courtroom. The warrant was executed immediately thereafter. The Authority locked Little and her children out of their apartment that afternoon. That same day Little offered the Authority $150 toward her arrears and promised to pay the balance the following Monday, June 22. The Authority refused her offer.

At the suggestion of the court, Little obtained counsel through the Legal Aid Society of Morris County. On June 22 she obtained a second order to show cause returnable June 26, requesting that the judgment for possession be vacated and that she be permitted to move back in to her apartment. The court permitted Little to re-enter her apartment pending the hearing on her application. That same day Little offered the Authority all of the rent money owed, but the Authority again refused to accept the back rent.

At the June 26 hearing, the Authority explained that it had refused Little's tender of rent because it did not wish to continue her tenancy. During oral argument, the Authority's counsel claimed that Little had been the source of many complaints and that her apartment had been the site of "drug activities." The court declined to credit the Authority's allegations, noting that the current proceeding was for nonpayment of rent only, and that other statutory grounds for eviction were available to the Authority. The court vacated the judgment for possession on payment by Little of the full amount of rent due, basing its decision on the equitable grounds included in Rule 4:50-1, and setting forth the considerations on which it had relied: the presence of five minor children, the unavailability of suitable housing at the same rent, and the fact that public housing was involved.

The Authority appealed the trial court's order to the Appellate Division. Reversing, the Appellate Division determined that a court's power to vacate a judgment for possession in a summary-dispossess proceeding based on nonpayment of rent is foreclosed by the Tenant Hardship Act, which limits the relief available to a stay of the execution of a warrant of removal for up to six months. 263 N.J.Super. at 369-70, 622 A.2d 1343 (citing N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.6). The Appellate Division held that a tenant cannot avoid a judgment for possession for nonpayment of rent by paying rent after that judgment has been entered, observing that the trial court's action in vacating the judgment for possession exceeded the limits of judicial discretion authorized by the Legislature under N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.6. Id. at 370-71, 622 A.2d 1343. The Appellate Division opinion relied heavily on this Court's decision in Housing Authority v. West, 69 N.J. 293, 354 A.2d 65 (1976), in which we reversed a trial court's order granting a tenant a twenty-two-month hardship stay designed to enable her to pay back to the landlord the total amount of rent due. There, we found that the trial court's order had unlawfully exceeded the six-month limit imposed by N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.6. 69 N.J. at 300-01, 354 A.2d 65.

The Appellate Division noted, however, that under certain circumstances a court could grant relief from a judgment for possession under Rule 4:50-1. It concluded that defendant had not met the criteria for application of Rule 4:50-1 because the sole basis for the trial court's grant of relief was Little's payment of the accrued rent. 263 N.J.Super. at 372, 622 A.2d 1343. After petitioning for certification, Little applied for and was granted a stay of eviction by the Appellate Division, effective until final disposition by this Court.

II

A

The summary-dispossess statute was enacted in 1847. P.L. 1847, p. 142. The purpose of the statute was to afford landlords an expedited procedure to regain possession of leased premises, thereby avoiding the delays ordinarily associated with common-law ejectment actions. West, supra, 69 N.J. at 300, 354 A.2d 65; Vineland Shopping Ctr., Inc. v. De Marco, 35 N.J. 459, 462, 173 A.2d 270 (1961). The only remedy that can be granted in a summary-dispossess proceeding is possession; no money damages may be awarded. Ortiz v. Engelbrecht, 61 F.R.D. 381, 389 (D.N.J.1973); 23A New Jersey Practice, Landlord and Tenant Law § 4311, at 299 (Sharon Rivenson Mark & Raymond I. Korona) (4th ed. 1990). Prior to the abolition of the County District Courts by the Legislature in 1983, L. 1983, c. 405, § 1, and the transfer of summary actions for possession to the Special Civil Part, see Rule 6:1-2(a)(3), the summary-dispossess statute barred appellate review, affording finality to the trial court's judgment for possession, except that judgments could be appealed on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction because the plaintiff had failed to prove any of the statutory grounds. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-59; Vineland, supra, 35 N.J. at 462-63, 173 A.2d 270; Academy Spires, Inc. v. Jones, 108 N.J.Super. 395, 399, 261 A.2d 413 (Law Div.1970). However, because the Special Civil Part is a division of the Superior Court, appeals are protected from statutory restrictions by the New Jersey Constitution article VI, section 5, paragraph 2, and are available as of right from a final judgment in a summary-dispossess action. See R. 2:2-3(a); Township of Bloomfield v. Rosanna's Figure Salon, Inc., 253 N.J.Super. 551, 557-58, 602 A.2d 751 (App.Div.1992).

The summary-dispossess procedure also was designed to secure performance of the rental obligation in actions based on nonpayment of rent. Vineland, supra, 35 N.J. at 469, 173 A.2d 270. Notably, if the rent owed is paid on or before final judgment in a proceeding based on nonpayment of rent, the landlord can no longer pursue the summary remedy. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-55; Vineland, supra, 35 N.J. at 469, 173 A.2d 270.

Unlike the common-law ejectment action, which existed prior to enactment of the summary-dispossess statute and remains available to aggrieved landlords, the jurisdiction of the court in summary-dispossess proceedings is entirely statutory. Ortiz, supra, 61 F.R.D. at 390; C.F. Seabrook Co. v. Beck, 174 N.J.Super. 577, 589, 417 A.2d 89 (App.Div.1980); see N.J.S.A. 2A:18-53 to -60. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1 limits the grounds for which residential tenants may be evicted in a summary proceeding, and jurisdiction to grant the remedy requires a showing that one of the statutory grounds for eviction exists. Levine v. Seidel, 128 N.J.Super. 225, 229, 319 A.2d 747 (App.Div.1974). Those grounds include nonpayment of rent, disorderly conduct, habitual late payment of rent, and destruction of the premises. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1.a to .1.c, .1.j.

A summary judgment for possession is enforced by a warrant of removal that cannot issue until three days after the entry of the judgment for possession. See N.J.S.A. 2A:18-57. The warrant of removal, in turn, cannot be...