Starke v. Secretary, United States Department of Housing & Urban Development

454 F. Supp. 477, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15608
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedJune 2, 1977
DocketCIV-76-0286-D
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 454 F. Supp. 477 (Starke v. Secretary, United States Department of Housing & Urban Development) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Starke v. Secretary, United States Department of Housing & Urban Development, 454 F. Supp. 477, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15608 (W.D. Okla. 1977).

Opinions

ORDER

DAUGHERTY, Chief Judge.

In this action Plaintiff seeks judicial review of Defendants’ decision denying Plaintiff relocation payments under the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, 42 U.S.C. § 4601 through § 4655 inclusive (hereinafter called the “Policies Act”). Plaintiff filed a Petition For Review with this Court, alleging that the Defendants’ decision was not in accordance with the law. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants did not comply with 42 U.S.C. § 4630 in making the decision. 42 U.S.C. § 4630 provides that:

“Notwithstanding any other law, the head of a Federal agency shall not approve any grant to, or contract or agreement with, a State agency, under which Federal financial assistance will be available to pay all or part of the cost of any program or project which will result in the displacement of any person on or after January 2,-1971, unless he receives satisfactory assurances from such State agency that — •
(1) fair and reasonable relocation payments and assistance shall be provided to or for displaced persons, as are required to be provided by a Federal agency under sections 4622, 4623, and 4624 of this title.”

In the Petition For Review, Plaintiff alleges that he has exhausted all administrative remedies. Defendants filed herein, pursuant to Rule 56(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a Motion For Summary Judgment and, pursuant to Rule 12(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a Motion To Dismiss. In support of the Motion To Dismiss Defendants contend that this Court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action and that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Upon due consideration, the Court finds and concludes that, for the following reasons, Defendants’ Motion For Summary Judgment and Motion To Dismiss should be overruled.

[480]*480MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Defendants’ Motion For Summary Judgment filed herein should be denied as an inappropriate procedural means to judicially review the decision of the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development denying Plaintiff’s claim for relocation payments under 42 U.S.C. § 4622(c). Nickol v. United States, 501 F.2d 1389 (Tenth Cir. 1974); Heber Valley Milk Company v. Butz, 503 F.2d 96 (Tenth Cir. 1974).

MOTION TO DISMISS

Defendants contend that the Court should dismiss the action on the grounds that the Court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter. Defendants contend that the determination made by the Defendants was committed to agency discretion by law and therefore not reviewable by this Court, 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(2). The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-706, provides for judicial review of certain agency action. 5 U.S.C. § 702 provides that:

“A person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof.”

The denial of a relocation payment claim under 42 U.S.C. § 4622 is administrative agency action which an aggrieved party has a right to have judicially reviewed under 5 U.S.C. § 702. Federal agency action under Title II of the Policies Act of 1970, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4621-4638, is subject to review under the Administrative Procedures Act. Lewis v. Brinegar, 372 F.Supp. 424 (W.D.Mo.1974). There have been a number of recent cases which have held that the sections of the Policies Act, with the exception of 42 U.S.C. § 4651, are judicially enforceable and that agency action under those sections is subject to judicial review. See Tullock v. State Highway Commission of Missouri, 507 F.2d 712 (Eighth Cir. 1974); Jones v. District of Columbia, Redevelopment Land Agency, 162 U.S.App.D.C. 366, 499 F.2d 502 (1974); Beaird-Poulan, Inc. v. Department of Highways, State of Louisiana, 497 F.2d 54 (Fifth Cir. 1974), cert. den. 420 U.S. 990, 95 S.Ct. 1424, 43 L.Ed.2d 670; Lathan v. Volpe, 455 F.2d 1111 (Ninth Cir. 1971); Whitman v. State Highway Commission of Missouri, 400 F.Supp. 1050 (W.D.Mo.1975); La Raza Unida v. Volpe, 337 F.Supp. 221 (N.D.Cal.1971) affirmed 488 F.2d 559 (Ninth Cir. 1973) cert. den. 409 U.S. 890, 93 S.Ct. 105, 34 L.Ed.2d 147. The instant case is concerned not with 42 U.S.C. § 4651 but with 42 U.S.C. § 4622 and is therefore within those sections subject to judicial review.

Defendants’ Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss cites Will-Tex Plastics Mfg., Inc. v. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 346 F.Supp. 654 (E.D.Pa.1972) affirmed 478 F.2d 1399 (Third Cir.), as authority for Defendants’ contention that the Defendants’ determination of Plaintiff’s claim for relocation payments under 42 U.S.C. § 4622 was committed to agency discretion by law. In the Will-Tex

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Bluebook (online)
454 F. Supp. 477, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15608, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/starke-v-secretary-united-states-department-of-housing-urban-okwd-1977.