Hunter v. Underwood
| Decision Date | 01 April 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-2360.,No. 02-3244.,No. 03-2853.,No. 03-2040.,02-3244.,03-2853.,03-2040.,03-2360. |
| Citation | 362 F.3d 468 |
| Parties | Charmaine HUNTER, Appellant, v. Russell UNDERWOOD, in his official capacity as Director, Section 8 Housing Authority, City of Des Moines, Appellee. Charmaine Hunter, Appellant, v. Russell Underwood, Teresa Taylor, Tangela Weiss, City of Des Moines, City of Des Moines Municipal Housing Authority, Appellees. Charmaine Hunter, Appellant, v. City of Des Moines Municipal Housing Agency, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Robert A. Wright, Jr., argued, Des Moines, IA, for appellant.
Michael Kelley, argued, Assistant City Attorney, Des Moines, IA, for appellee.
Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, WOLLMAN and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.
Charmaine Hunter brings four separate appeals relating to attempts by the City of Des Moines Municipal Housing Authority (hereinafter "the Des Moines Housing Authority" or "the Housing Authority") to terminate her public housing lease. We consolidated these appeals for purposes of hearing oral argument,1 but we consider and rule on each appeal separately.
On October 26, 1988, Hunter entered into a public housing dwelling lease with the Des Moines Housing Authority, a state agency. The lease is a 30-day lease, which provides for automatic renewal upon advance payment of the rent. The lease requires Hunter, among other things, to provide accurate information as to her income and family composition at least once each year. As the renter, Ms. Hunter agrees not to provide lodging to boarders but to use the premises solely for her household as identified in the lease. The lease also provides that the Des Moines Housing Authority shall not terminate the lease other than for serious or repeated violations of its material terms and that the Housing Authority shall give a 30-day notice prior to termination of the lease. The renter may request a hearing in accordance with the Des Moines Housing Authority's grievance procedure to challenge the lease termination.
On April 27, 2001, the Des Moines Housing Authority served Hunter with notice that her lease would terminate in 30 days on the grounds that Hunter had violated the lease provisions and public housing regulations by not reporting gambling income, by not reporting an unauthorized boarder, and by allowing illegal drug activity on the premises. Hunter invoked the grievance procedure and appealed the lease termination to a hearing examiner. The hearing examiner upheld the lease termination decision, concluding that the allegations of illegal drug activity were too remote to be a factor here but that Hunter had violated her lease by not reporting gambling income and by permitting an unauthorized boarder to live on the premises. Hunter then filed suit in federal district court seeking judicial review of the Housing Authority's termination decision. Neither the parties nor the district court questioned subject matter jurisdiction at that time. The district court2 affirmed the hearing officer's decision on July 23, 2001, concluding that substantial evidence existed in the record to support the hearing officer's conclusion that Hunter had violated her lease. Hunter did not appeal this decision.
Because Hunter did not vacate the property on May 31, 2001, as required by the initial 30-day notice of termination, the Des Moines Housing Authority served her with a 3-day notice to quit on June 8, 2001. When she had not vacated the property after 3 days, the Des Moines Housing Authority commenced a state law forcible entry or detention of real property action pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 648 in Polk County Small Claims Court. On August 7, 2001, the small claims court entered judgment for the Des Moines Housing Authority on grounds of issue preclusion, noting that the federal court had already determined that the termination of the lease was proper. The small claims court ordered Hunter to vacate the premises by August 13, 2001.
Hunter appealed the small claims court decision to the state district court, which reversed on the basis of state landlord-tenant law. The state district court held, among other things, that the Des Moines Housing Authority had not complied with Iowa's requirement of providing a 7-day notice to cure before terminating a dwelling lease. Iowa Code § 562A.27(1) (2001).3 The Supreme Court of Iowa denied discretionary review.
In January 2002 (prior to the legislature's amendment of the statute to eliminate the 7-day notice to cure for federal public housing leases), the Des Moines Housing Authority again served Hunter with a 30-day notice of lease termination, citing her longstanding violations of the public housing rental agreement. The notice did not provide a 7-day opportunity to cure the claimed violations. Hunter did not vacate the property.
On April 3, 2002, Hunter returned to federal district court and filed a Rule 60(b)(5) motion for relief from the judicial review decision dated June 23, 2001, asserting that it was no longer equitable to give that judgment prospective application because the state court had since ruled that the notice of termination was inadequate due to its failure to provide written notice of a 7-day window to cure the alleged violations of the lease, as provided in Iowa law. The federal district court denied the motion concluding that there was no showing that the adequacy of the written notice had been an issue before it when it made the original judicial review determination. Hunter then filed a Rule 59(e) motion to alter or amend the judgment, citing the same reason, and the district court denied this motion as well. Hunter appeals.
On April 5, 2002, Hunter filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint in federal district court against the Housing Authority and several of its individual agents, alleging that they violated her federal right of due process by attempting to terminate her federally subsidized lease without proper notice to cure as required by Iowa law. The district court dismissed the § 1983 action for failure to state the violation of a federal or constitutional right. The district court denied Hunter's motion to alter or amend the judgment, and Hunter appeals the dismissal of her § 1983 claim.
While all of that was working its way through the federal district court, Hunter requested another administrative hearing, this time challenging the Housing Authority's second attempt to terminate her lease, dated January 2002. The hearing officer ruled on November 12, 2002, that the written notice was sufficient and that no notice to cure is required where the alleged breach cannot be remedied. The Des Moines Housing Authority then returned to state court and filed another forcible entry and detainer of real property action in an effort to remove Hunter from the premises. The state district court once again dismissed the action due to the Housing Authority's failure to give the 7-day notice to cure under state landlord-tenant law.
On December 5, 2002, Hunter returned to federal court, this time seeking judicial review of the Des Moines Housing Authority's second attempt to terminate her lease dated January 2002. Hunter alleged that the Housing Authority had not properly terminated her lease because the termination notice lacked the 7-day notice to cure required by Iowa law. The district court dismissed this suit, concluding that the Des Moines Housing Authority is a state agency whose decisions are not subject to review under the federal Administrative Procedure Act and that, in any event, the doctrine of res judicata bars the action. Hunter appeals.
Finally, on May 14, 2003, while Hunter's appeal of her first Rule 60(b) motion challenging the July 23, 2001, judicial review decision was still pending before this court, Hunter filed in federal district court a second Rule 60(b) motion, asserting a new reason why the July 23, 2001, judgment should be set aside. Hunter for the first time argued that the court had no jurisdiction to make the judicial review decision of July 23, 2001, because the Housing Authority is not a federal agency within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act. Therefore, Hunter asked the district court to declare the judgment void. The district court denied this second Rule 60(b) motion noting that the case was already before this court on appeal of Hunter's first Rule 60(b) motion. Hunter now also appeals the denial of her second Rule 60(b) motion.
In her first appeal, Hunter challenges the district court's denial of her Rule 60(b)(5) motion, asserting that, in light of the subsequent state court ruling that the notice provision was inadequate, it is not equitable to give prospective application to the district court's July 23, 2001, judgment. We review the denial of Rule 60(b)(5) relief for an abuse of discretion, and an abuse will be found only where "the district court's judgment was based on clearly erroneous factual findings or erroneous legal conclusions." Parton v. White, 203 F.3d 552, 556 (8th Cir.) (internal quotation marks omitted), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 963, 121 S.Ct. 392, 148 L.Ed.2d 302 (2000). We find no abuse of discretion in the district court's denial of Hunter's Rule 60(b)(5) motion. The subsequent state court ruling in this case held that the notice provision of the lease termination was inadequate under state law. The district court properly concluded that the state court judgment did not impact the validity of its determination that the Housing Authority correctly concluded it had grounds on which to terminate Hunter's lease, where the adequacy of the notice under state law was not at issue. We thus affirm the district court's denial of Hunter's Rule 60(b)(5) motion in Appeal No. 02-3244.
While Appeal No. 02-3244 was pending before this court, Hunter filed a second Rule 60(b) motion in district court, attacking the...
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