Kennedy Heights Apartments Ltd. I v. United States

63 Fed. Cl. 731, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 23, 2005 WL 241489
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJanuary 31, 2005
DocketNo. 00-23C
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 63 Fed. Cl. 731 (Kennedy Heights Apartments Ltd. I v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kennedy Heights Apartments Ltd. I v. United States, 63 Fed. Cl. 731, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 23, 2005 WL 241489 (uscfc 2005).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS OR FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

WILLIAMS, Judge.

In this action, Plaintiffs seek to recover surplus proceeds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) foreclosure sale of their low-income housing projects pursuant to the Multifamily Mortgage Foreclosure Act (MMFA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 3701 et seq. In addition, they seek to recover rent subsidies on those projects, which they allege HUD suspended in breach of their housing assistance payment contracts.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant’s Motion To Dismiss, Or In The Alternative, For Summary Judgment. Defendant seeks to dismiss Plaintiffs’ surplus claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, contending that these claims are based solely on violations of internal HUD documents— its Handbook, audit reports, and memoranda — which do not have the force and effect of law. Because Defendant has misconstrued Plaintiffs’ claims which arise under the MMFA, the motion to dismiss is denied. Genuine issues of material fact preclude entry of summary judgment on Plaintiffs’ claims for unpaid rent subsidies and the foreclosure sale surplus and on Defendant’s counterclaim that Plaintiffs wrongfully retained project funds.

Factual Background1

Plaintiffs, formerly owned two federally subsidized low-income housing projects, Kennedy Heights and Washington Heights apartments (the Projects) in Kaufman County, Texas.2 In 1996, HUD was assigned the [733]*733notes and mortgages on the Projects and became the mortgagee. Plaintiffs subsequently defaulted on their mortgage loans, and HUD took control of the properties until they could be sold at foreclosure. Pursuant to mortgagee-in-possession (MIP) agreements executed with Plaintiffs, HUD managed the Projects between August 1 and September 30, 1998, (the MIP period), until the foreclosure sale. The purpose of the MIP agreements was to allow for the transfer of possession and management of the properties to HUD as MIP, by requiring Plaintiffs to transfer physical possession of the Projects and ancillary personal property, including operating and other accounts, by August 1, 1998, assign HUD the right to receive rents and profits from the Projects, and cooperate and assist in the transition process. MIP Agreements, Def.’s App. 129-34.

On August 3, 1998, HUD appointed Duncan McMillian, a federal housing foreclosure commissioner, to preside over the foreclosure of the Projects pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 3704. On August 28,1998, Commissioner McMillian sold Kennedy Heights for $1,120,000 and Washington Heights for $1,420,000 to private buyers.

The Alleged Surplus

Plaintiffs allege that the sales generated a surplus of $130,082 for Kennedy Heights and $146,282 for Washington Heights, to which they are entitled under Section 3712 of the MMFA. This statute provides that the mortgagor on a foreclosed property is entitled to receive surplus sale proceeds which remain after allowed expenses, hens, and obligations, including all “expenditures for the necessary protection, preservation, and repair of the security property,” have been satisfied from the property’s sale price. 12 U.S.C. § 3712 (2000).

Commissioner McMilhan advised Plaintiffs that there was no surplus because the mortgages on the Projects, coupled with the expenses incurred by HUD in managing the Projects during the MIP period, had exceeded their sale prices. As such, Commissioner McMillian intended to release all sale proceeds directly to HUD. Plaintiffs obtained a Temporary Restraining Order in state court in Dallas County, Texas, directing Commissioner McMillian to pay the alleged surplus into the court’s registry. On October 1, 1998, Commissioner McMillian removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, and moved for summary judgment on the disputed surplus amounts. The district court transferred the case to the United States Court of Federal Claims, concluding that Plaintiffs’ claims were properly brought under the Tucker Act. Kennedy Heights Apartments, Ltd. v. McMillan, 78 F.Supp.2d 562, 571 (N.D.Tex. 1999).

Once before this Court, Defendant moved to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Court denied Defendant’s motion because Plaintiffs’ claims came within the Tucker Act because the Multifamily Mortgage Foreclosure Act is “money-mandating, and require[s] any surplus money from the foreclosure sale of plaintiffs’ properties to be dispensed to plaintiffs.” Kennedy Heights Apartments, Ltd. I v. United States, 48 Fed.Cl. 574, 580 (2001).

Rent Subsidies

Pursuant to Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, 42 U.S.C. § 1437f, the parties executed four Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contracts, so Plaintiffs could collect housing assistance payments to subsidize rents at the Projects.3 Kennedy Heights was covered by three HAP contracts — TX16-L000-080 (Contract 80), [734]*734TX16-M000-130 (Contract 130), and TX16-M000-151 (Contract 151). Washington Heights was covered by one HAP contract— TX16-M000-197 (Contract 197). Plaintiffs allege that HUD withheld rent subsidies in the amount of $41,742 for Kennedy Heights and $58,519 for Washington Heights.4 HUD pays Section 8 funds only for those days in a month when an apartment unit is occupied by a qualified tenant and is found to be in decent, safe and sanitary condition. Plaintiffs submitted request forms for rent subsidies on the Projects in August and September 1998, and received full payment under three out of their four HAP contracts for August 1998, but nothing on their requests for September 1998. Section 9 of three of the four contracts at issue provides:

The Owner must prepare and submit requests for housing assistance payments in accordance with the administrative procedures established by HUD. All requests for assistance payments must be submitted on the forms prescribed by HUD and be properly executed by the Owner or the Owner’s authorized agent.5

Plaintiffs’ vouchers for rent subsidies for August and September 1998, were signed by Plaintiffs’ management agent, Insignia. The September vouchers, like the August vouchers, were subject to the following certification:

I certify that: 1) tenant’s elig. and asst, was computed in accordance with HUD’s regs., procedures, and the Contract and payable under the Contract, 2) required inspections, complete [sic], 3) such subsidy Units are decent, safe, sanitary, occupied and/or available for occupancy, 4) no amount in this bill has been previously billed or paid, 5) all data in this request is true and correct, 6) I have not and will not receive any money or other consideration from tenant or other source for Units beyond that authorized by HUD, its authorized agent or Comptroller of the U.S. I will make available all records for audit related to tenants elig. and asst, payments.

Al640-77; 1710-56.

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Bluebook (online)
63 Fed. Cl. 731, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 23, 2005 WL 241489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kennedy-heights-apartments-ltd-i-v-united-states-uscfc-2005.