C.J. Betters, Corp. v. United States

36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,935, 21 Cl. Ct. 378, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 334, 1990 WL 124979
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedAugust 27, 1990
DocketNo. 438-88 C
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,935 (C.J. Betters, Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
C.J. Betters, Corp. v. United States, 36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,935, 21 Cl. Ct. 378, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 334, 1990 WL 124979 (cc 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

WIESE, Judge.

Plaintiff, C.J. Betters Corporation, was the successful bidder in a solicitation issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) inviting offers to purchase, on an “as is” basis, a rent-subsidized apartment complex in Pasadena, Texas. As the present owner of the complex, Betters is suing here to recover contract damages based on alternative theories of entitlement. In Count I, Betters asserts that HUD failed to satisfy its obligation, under the sale contract, to establish rental subsidies on behalf of the apartments’ qualifying low income tenants on or shortly after [379]*379the date of sale. Betters, in Count II, alleges that HUD acted contrary to law in offering Continental Apartments for sale with tenant-based subsidies rather than project-based subsidies.

Defendant has moved for summary judgment on both counts; plaintiff opposes. The court, upon consideration of the parties’ briefs and the oral arguments, concludes that defendant’s motion should be granted only as to Count II. As to Count I, our determination favors the plaintiff.

FACTS

In August 1986, HUD provided plaintiff with information pertaining to the proposed sale, by sealed bid, of a 284-unit, two-story garden-type apartment complex in Pasadena, Texas known as the Continental Apartments (herein also “the project”). This information, referred to as the “bid kit,” included a Prospectus and Invitation to Bid (a summary of the property’s pertinent details), a set of bidding instructions, a proposed contract of sale, and a “Section 8 Information” sheet describing the details of the tenant-based rental subsidy program under which the project was being sold. For purposes of this litigation, these documents constitute the entirety of the parties’ purchase contract.1

HUD informed bidders, through the Section 8 Information sheet, that the rental subsidy would be tenant-based Section 8 Certificates of Family Participation (as opposed to project-based housing assistance payments). As to these certificates, the information sheet explained that:

[approximately 128 tenants in this project have, or will have at closing or shortly thereafter, Certificates of Family Participation (Certificates) administered by a local public authority, usually the PHA [Public Housing Authority] having jurisdiction in the area where the project is located. The new owner will be required to execute a Housing Assistance Payments Contract (HAP) with the PHA administering the Certificates in order to receive subsidy payments. HUD, through an Annual Contributions Contract (ACC) with the PHA, provides funds to the PHA to make these payments.

The information sheet cautioned bidders that:

payments hereunder may not start for several months after closing, either due to repairs required by the purchaser, or the processing required to start the administration of the Certificates. Prior to receipt of the subsidy payments, purchasers may not charge eligible tenants, who will receive Certificates, more than the amount the tenant would be required to pay under the Certificate program. Bids should be computed accordingly.

In addition to informing bidders about the project’s eligibility for tenant-based rent subsidies, HUD advised bidders that the property was being sold on an “as is" basis, i.e., without any representations by HUD as to the project’s state of repair, occupancy, or value. The pertinent contract clause reads as follows:

6. AS-IS SALE; NO REPRESENTATIONS
(a) Purchaser shall accept the Property “as is.” Seller makes no representations or warranties concerning the physical condition of the Property. In addition, Seller does not represent or warrant the number and occupancy of revenue producing units, or any factor bearing upon the value of the Property.
(b) Purchaser acknowledges that the purchase price set forth in Section 2 is based on Purchaser’s evaluation of the project and not upon any representations by Seller. Purchaser’s failure to inspect, or to be fully informed as to any factor bearing upon the valuation of the Property, shall not affect the liabilities, obligations or duties of Seller under this Contract.

[380]*380Nine bids were received by HUD, the highest being the bid of C.J. Betters Corporation in the amount of $1,035,000. A contract of sale was entered into on October 2, 1986 and the property closing was held on October 27, 1986.

On November 10, 1986, HUD notified the City of Pasadena Public Housing Authority — the authority administering the Section 8 certificates — that it would be receiving 130 certificates for existing housing, together with a contract reserving to the city $597,000 as source funds for the rent subsidy payments. Included in the letter was a list of the Continental Apartments’ tenants thought to be eligible for the rental subsidies. The letter instructed the housing authority that “[t]he listed tenants will need to be certified by your agency” before contractual authority to expend funds could be finalized.

Certification of tenant eligibility proved to be a time consuming process. One of the chief difficulties which Betters encountered was the local housing authority’s insistence that each of the living units be reinspected to assure compliance with HUD housing quality standards.2 The housing authority believed that reinspection was necessary even though it had been advised by HUD in January 1987 (shortly before the certification process began) that all occupied units satisfied quality standards at the time of property closing. Not until June 1987 — and then only because of HUD’s insistence — did the reinspections cease.

At this time (i.e., June, 1987), HUD agreed that Betters should receive rental payments retroactive to the date of closing for all of the original tenants still in occupancy. However, during the preceding months, the company had been required by the local housing authority to undertake costly and disruptive apartment-by-apartment repair work, much of it unanticipated. In addition, there was a decline in occupancy — an occurrence which plaintiff attributes to the administrative delays and physical disruptions associated with the initiation of the housing subsidies. No tenants were certified until May 1987, some seven months after the date of closing. Betters began to receive rent subsidies on a limited number of dwelling units at that time. However, by the time rental subsidies did begin in May 1987, over seventy tenants had left Continental Apartments.

Betters filed suit in this court on July 25, 1988 claiming, among other things, that neither the need for tenant certification nor the necessity for extensive rehabilitation of occupied rental units had been disclosed in the bid package. More to the point, Betters claims that HUD personnel informed its representatives at the time of their site visit (prior to bidding) that there would be approximately 130 certificate-eligible tenants in residence at the time of closing, that the units occupied by those tenants would meet HUD housing quality standards at closing and that no other conditions for the issuance of the certificates would then remain to be satisfied by the new owner.

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Related

Pratt v. United States
50 Fed. Cl. 469 (Federal Claims, 2001)
C.J. Betters Corporation v. United States
69 F.3d 553 (Federal Circuit, 1995)
Badgley v. United States
31 Fed. Cl. 508 (Federal Claims, 1994)
CJ. Betters Corp. v. United States
39 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,639 (Federal Claims, 1994)
C.J. Betters Corp. v. United States
37 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,299 (Court of Claims, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,935, 21 Cl. Ct. 378, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 334, 1990 WL 124979, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cj-betters-corp-v-united-states-cc-1990.