Normandy Apartments, Limited v. United States

633 F. App'x 933
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedNovember 20, 2015
Docket2014-5135
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 633 F. App'x 933 (Normandy Apartments, Limited v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Normandy Apartments, Limited v. United States, 633 F. App'x 933 (Fed. Cir. 2015).

Opinions

WALLACH, Circuit Judge.

Normandy Apartments, Ltd. (“Normandy”) appeals the United States Court of Federal Claims’ orders granting the government’s: (1) motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction; and (2) motion for summary judgment on Normandy’s takings claim. Normandy Apartments, Ltd. v. United States, 116 Fed.Cl. 431 (2014); see also Normandy Apartments, Ltd. v. United States, 100 Fed.Cl. 247 (2011). For the reasons set forth below, this court affirms.

Baokground

I. Facts

Normandy owned and managed Normandy Apartments,- a low-income rental housing project constructed in 1968 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tenants’ rents at Normandy Apartments were federally subsidized under the Section 8 project-based program, see 42 U.S.C. § 1437f, which was created “to ‘ai[d] low-income families in obtaining a decent place to live ... by subsidizing private landlords who would rent to low-income tenants.’ ” Cisneros v. [935]*935Alpine Ridge Grp., 508 U.S. 10, 12, 113 S.Ct. 1898, 123 L.Ed.2d 572 (1993) (alteration in original) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 1437f(a)). In this system, a monthly rent is set for each apartment, the tenants pay a portion of that rent based on their ability to pay, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) pays the difference between each tenant’s contribution and the allowable rent for the unit. 42 U.S.C. § 1437f(c)(3).

Effective October 1, 1992, Normandy and the United States, acting through HUD, entered into a Section 8 rental subsidy agreement called a Housing Assistance Payments (“HAP”) contract (the “Original HAP Contract”). Pursuant to this contract, HUD agreed to pay the difference between the tenant’s contribution and the rent, and Normandy agreed it would “ ‘maintain and operate the contract units and related facilities so as to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing as defined by HUD,’ to clean and ‘make repairs with reasonable promptness,’ to ‘respond promptly to HUD’s Physical Inspection Reports and to implement corrective actions within a reasonable time.’ ” Normandy, 116 Fed.Cl. at 434 (quoting Original HAP Contract). HUD enforces these requirements through inspections, audits, and other actions, including withholding assistance payments. 42 U.S.C. § 1437c(h); 24 C.F.R. § 886.123. HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center (“REAC”) inspects Section 8 housing and assigns a score on a 100-point scale. 24 C.F.R. §§ 5.705, 200.857 (2014).

In 1997, the Original HAP Contract expired, and Normandy and HUD renewed the contract annually until 2004. On October 1, 2004, when the prior year’s HAP contract had expired, Normandy entered into the next renewal contract (“2004 HAP Contract”) — the basis for Normandy’s breach of contract claims. Though the earlier HAP contracts had been made with HUD, in the 2004 HAP Contract, the Oklahoma Housing Finance Authority (“OHFA”), a public housing agency (“PHA”), was identified as the “contract administrator.” Normandy, 116 Fed.Cl. at 434. While HUD was no longer a party to the contract, the rest of the contract terms in the Original HAP Contract were renewed, including the provision that Normandy “maintain and operate the contract units and related facilities so as to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing as defined by HUD.” Id.

On May 23, 2000, Normandy entered into a separate “Use Agreement” with HUD, which “allowed Normandy to prepay its HUD-backed mortgage and terminate the 1967 Regulatory Agreement between it and HUD.” Id. see also id. at 435 (“The Use Agreement is independent of the HAP contract, although the former contemplates the possibility that a HAP contract may cover some or all of the units.”). Under the Use Agreement, Normandy prepaid its HUD-insured mortgage, and, in exchange, Normandy agreed to continue housing low-income families until June 1, 2009, the original maturity date of the mortgage. Pursuant to the Use Agreement, Normandy’s use of the apartment complex was restricted to “rental housing for tenants of lower income,” Normandy agreed not to evict existing tenants based on income, J.A. 148, Normandy was required to maintain the apartment complex “in a condition that is decent, safe, sanitary, and in good repair, as well as in compliance with all applicable state and local building and health codes,” J.A. 151, and Normandy was required to obtain HUD’s approval before conveying the property.

Pursuant to the 2004 HAP Contract, in November' 2004, REAC “inspected the [936]*936Normandy Apartments to verify the units were safe, decent, and sanitary.” Normandy, 116 Fed.Cl. at 435. The apartments received a failing score. Normandy corrected the identified problems and, when OHFA conducted an inspection in February 2005, it noted the previous deficiencies had been fixed. HUD itself did not reinspect the apartments, but notified Normandy in February 2006 that it was closing the November 2004 inspection.

Under 24 C.F.R. §§ 200.855(c)(Z), 886.323 (2014), HUD is required to inspect a property between nine and fifteen months from the date of the prior inspection. Here, the next REAC inspection did not occur until August 23, 2006, more than twenty months after the November 2004 inspection. Normandy failed this inspection, but subsequently requested that HUD adjust the score “because the apartment complex was undergoing repairs; specifically, all of the windows were being replaced.” Normandy, 116 Fed.Cl. at 435. On October 15, 2006, Normandy inquired with HUD about the status of its appeal regarding its failing score. In November, HUD replied and notified Normandy that it had missed the deadline to appeal the score.

In March 2007, HUD requested that Normandy write a letter certifying that it was in compliance with the inspection requirements. Because the window replacement was ongoing, Normandy was not able to certify its compliance and instead provided a letter from its window contractor stating the anticipated completion date for the repairs. HUD then informed Normandy that it would perform a reinspection, but never did so. Instead, it sent a June 20, 2007, letter notifying Normandy that HUD “would cease to fund housing assistance payments because [Normandy] had defaulted on the HAP [Contract by repeatedly failing to maintain the apartments.” Id.

Specifically, on September 28, 2007, HUD warned Normandy that its assistance payments would be terminated and that Normandy should stop accepting new low-income qualified tenants. HUD also notified Normandy that any affected tenants could apply for vouchers to offset their rent at the Normandy Apartments or enable them to move elsewhere. Shortly before November 1, 2007, HUD informed Normandy that it was obligated to continue honoring the below-market rental rates during the existing lease terms.

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633 F. App'x 933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/normandy-apartments-limited-v-united-states-cafc-2015.