Owens v. Housing Authority of City of Stamford

• Decision Date: 29 May 1975
• Docket Number: Civ. No. B 74-432.
• Citation: 394 F. Supp. 1267
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: Mary OWENS et al. v. HOUSING AUTHORITY OF the CITY OF STAMFORD et al.

394 F. Supp. 1267

Mary OWENS et al. v. HOUSING AUTHORITY OF the CITY OF STAMFORD et al.

Civ. No. B 74-432.

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

May 29, 1975.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Diana A. Johnston, Stamford, Conn., Fairfield County Legal Services, Inc., David S. Branch, Bridgeport, Conn., for plaintiffs.

Edward M. Kweskin, Wosey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky, Emil H. Frankel, Stamford, Conn., for defendants.

RULING ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS

ZAMPANO, District Judge.

This case poses difficult problems in federal-state relations engendered by the ever-widening scope of the doctrines enunciated in Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). It also requires the Court to assess tenants' rights and Housing Authority responsibilities in light of the developing case law since Escalera v. New York City Housing Authority, 425 F.2d 853 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 853, 91 S.Ct. 54, 27 L.Ed.2d 91 (1970).

I.

In their complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief and damages, the plaintiffs, tenants in low and moderate income public housing in the City of Stamford, Connecticut, level broad attacks upon various practices of the Stamford Housing Authority (hereinafter "SHA"). The complaint is a lengthy, 34 page document with causes of action set forth in six counts. Count One states that the "no eviction" policy of the SHA was unilaterally changed on September 1, 1974, without notice to the tenants or an opportunity to be heard. This policy encouraged tenants to pay rent arrearages in installments and to "settle" their rent debts without actual physical eviction. With the change in policy, which the plaintiffs contend violated the Due Process Clause, there has been a dramatic increase in evictions. Count Two alleges that due process has been denied moderate income housing tenants by the failure to provide administrative hearings before assessments of "additional rent" charges and before eviction proceedings. Counts Three and Four are addressed to the leases signed by the low income housing tenants which are claimed to be violative of the regulations promulgated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (hereinafter "HUD") and of the statutory requirement of 42 U.S.C. § 1402(1), which proscribes a rent in excess of 25% of a tenant's family income. Count Five concerns itself with tenants who contend they have been evicted as a result of the aforesaid illegal activities of the SHA. Count Six merely realleges several of the preceding causes of action as a basis for redress in the form of an immediate injunction.

II.

When suit was commenced before this Court on November 27, 1974, the plaintiffs moved for a temporary restraining order to enjoin any further evictions of the named plaintiffs and the members of the classes they represented. At that time the Court decided to stay its hand in order to grant the defendants an opportunity to file a motion to dismiss, and to permit the state court to entertain the plaintiffs' grievances in pending actions. It was agreed, however, that the federal forum would remain open for redress if the plaintiffs were not afforded a full and adequate opportunity to litigate their claims and defenses in the state court.

Thereafter the actions against plaintiffs Owens and Zygmont were pressed in the state court and the defendants successfully obtained orders of eviction. In the Owens case, the state judge viewed the issue as a "narrow" one involving nonpayment of rent and suggested that remedies against "the Housing Authority because its sic a governmental based operation" must be obtained "somewhere else" and "in some other forum." Tr. p. 7, Housing Authority v. Owens, No. CVI-7410-40,524 (Stamford Cir. Ct. December 9, 1974). In the Zygmont case, the state judge reviewed the proffered constitutional defenses but rejected them on the grounds that the activities of the SHA did not constitute state action and that the principles enunciated in Escalera v. New York City Housing Authority, supra, were not applicable to Connecticut's summary process procedures. Housing Authority v. Zygmont, No. CVI-7411-40,769 (Stamford Cir. Ct. March 26, 1975). The record further discloses that plaintiffs Owens and Zygmont attempted to appeal the judgments of the state judges but that their appeals were not perfected because they were financially unable to post the appeal bonds as required by Conn.Gen.Stat. § 52-542. The plaintiffs' requests for waivers of the requirement to post the bonds were denied by the state judges.

The plaintiffs now seek to reactivate this lawsuit and the defendants counter by moving to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b), F.R.Civ.P.

At the outset it is noted that jurisdiction over this civil rights action is properly premised on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331(a), 1343(3). Escalera v. New York City Housing Authority, supra; Caulder v. Durham Housing Authority, 433 F.2d 998, 1001 (4 Cir. 1970); Barber v. White, 351 F.Supp. 1091, 1093 (D.Conn.1972); McMichael v. Chester Housing Authority, 325 F.Supp. 147, 148 (E.D.Pa.1971). Since defendants have filed a series of affidavits challenging many of the plaintiffs' factual allegations, it is also appropriate to review certain relevant principles which are applicable to defendants' motion. In considering a motion to dismiss, all facts well pleaded in the complaint must be accepted as true, California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking, Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508, 92 S.Ct. 609, 30 L.Ed.2d 642 (1972), and no action, especially one under the Civil Rights Act, should be dismissed unless it appears to a certainty that plaintiffs are entitled to no relief under any state of the facts which could be proved in support of their claims. Escalera v. New York City Housing Authority, supra, 425 F.2d at 857; see Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957).

III.

Relying on Younger v. Harris, supra, and its progeny, the defendants first contend that consideration of equity, comity and federalism require this Court to dismiss the complaint, or to abstain from decision in order to afford the Connecticut courts an opportunity to rule on the constitutional and statutory issues in cases presently pending in state forums.

In the Younger sextet, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts were precluded from intervention by way of injunctive or declaratory relief in any pending state criminal prosecution, except in special and extraordinary circumstances. 401 U.S. at 45, 46, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669. See Samuels v. Mackell, 401 U.S. 66, 91 S.Ct. 764, 27 L. Ed.2d 688 (1971); Boyle v. Landry, 401 U.S. 77, 91 S.Ct. 758, 27 L.Ed.2d 696 (1971); Byrne v. Karalexsis, 401 U.S. 216, 91 S.Ct. 777, 27 L.Ed.2d 792 (1971); Perez v. Ledesma, 401 U.S. 82, 91 S.Ct. 674, 27 L.Ed.2d 701 (1971); Dyson v. Stein, 401 U.S. 200, 91 S.Ct. 769, 27 L.Ed.2d 781 (1971). While the principles enunciated in Younger have recently been held to apply to federal court interference in state civil proceedings which seek to protect "the very interests which underlie its criminal laws," Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd., ___ U. S. ___, 95 S.Ct. 1200, 43 L.Ed.2d 482 (1975), the Supreme Court has made "no general pronouncements upon the applicability of Younger to all civil litigation." Id. at 1209 of 95 S.Ct.

However, even assuming the applicability of Younger principles to such civil litigation as state summary process, federal intervention is appropriate under the circumstances of this case. First, despite this Court's reluctance to take action when the case was initially instituted and the referral of the issues back to the state courts, the plaintiffs were effectively blocked from fully litigating the federal and statutory questions. As set forth previously, plaintiff Owens was instructed to seek her remedies "in some other forum" and to "find yourself another defense until you hear from Judge Zampano." In addition, plaintiffs Owens and Zygmont were denied discovery procedures that they needed in order to raise properly many of their claims relating to the activities of the SHA. More important, the plaintiffs were unable to challenge the lower state courts' decisions by appealing to the Connecticut Supreme Court. Connecticut statutes do not provide for the waiver of an appeal bond in a summary process case, Conn.Gen.Stat. § 52-542, and plaintiff Zygmont's application to the state judge for a waiver was denied. The unavailability of appellate review is particularly significant since the Connecticut Supreme Court has yet to rule on the propriety of federal constitutional defenses to a summary process action for eviction. Cf. Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd., supra at ___, 95 S.Ct. 1200, 43 L.Ed.2d 482. Thus, as was noted in Caulder v. Durham Housing Authority, supra, 433 F.2d at 1002, the inability to post an appeal bond in a state eviction case renders the ability to litigate the issues in the state court "more theoretical than real."

Second, the primary issues before the Court concern federal law, not state law. The plaintiffs' main complaints focus on administrative actions by the SHA which allegedly violated their rights under the Constitution and HUD regulations. As Judge Smith noted in Escalera, rejecting an argument for abstention in circumstances similar to those present at bar:

We are not dealing here with the administration of a complex state process in which state courts have greater expertise. The actions here are not entangled in state law. Rather, the only issues here are whether certain HA procedures pass muster under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Federal courts are fully competent to consider such issues and are the primary forum for vindicating federal rights. 425 F.2d at 865.

Thus, the considerations of comity and federalism which required abstention in Younger and Huffman are absent in the instant case.

Third, equitable factors weigh heavily in favor of exercising federal jurisdiction....