Sweeney v. Housing Authority of Chester County (In re Sweeney)

215 B.R. 97, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 1928
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 2, 1997
DocketBankruptcy No. 97-32064DAS; Adversary No. 97-1130DAS
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 215 B.R. 97 (Sweeney v. Housing Authority of Chester County (In re Sweeney)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sweeney v. Housing Authority of Chester County (In re Sweeney), 215 B.R. 97, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 1928 (Pa. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVID A. SCHOLL, Chief Judge.

A. INTRODUCTION

Presently before us in the individual Chapter 13 bankruptcy case of MICHELLE E. SWEENEY, now known as Michelle Sweeney Pennington (“the Debtor”), are (1) a motion seeking relief from the automatic stay (“the Motion”) filed by the Debtor’s landlords, John T. and Alsenia Fields (“the Landlords”); and (2) the Debtor’s adversary proceeding (“the Proceeding”) against the HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE COUNTY OF CHESTER (“HACC”), appealing HACC’s decision to terminate her Section 8 housing subsidy, brought to us by removal of a petition seeking review of the termination decision from the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County, Pennsylvania (“the CCP”), by the Debtor.

After receiving evidence regarding the termination of the Debtor’s Section 8 certificate in a de novo hearing, we conclude that the termination was not justified. Specifically, we find that there is no evidence or rational basis on which to deny assistance to the Debtor on the ground that she inaccurately reported her family composition, and we find that her failure to report her temporary employment in writing was not sufficiently material to justify the termination of her assistance. Accordingly, we will order that her Section 8 certificate be reinstated and will not grant the relief sought in the Motion on the conditions that the Debtor promptly assumes the parties’ lease and that she obtains confirmation of a plan including, as a administrative expense, the repayment of any financial assistance improperly received by her due to the omission of her employment income in calculating her subsidy to HACC.

B. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL HISTORY

The Debtor initiated the underlying bankruptcy case on October 3,1997. No meeting of creditors nor confirmation hearing has been scheduled in that ease as of this date.

Very soon after the case was commenced, on October 14, 1997, the Landlords filed the Motion, therein seeking authorization to evict the Debtor from a home which she rented from them located at 625 East Chestnut Street, Coatesville, Pennsylvania (“the Premises”), pursuant to a state court judgment for possession of the Premises. A hearing was scheduled on the Motion on November 13, 1997, at which time the Husband-Landlord and the Debtor and their respective counsel appeared. In the course of a colloquy at that hearing, we were apprised by the Landlords’ counsel that the Landlords had not received rent from or on behalf of the Debtor since she moved into the Premises on April 23, 1997, and had therefore obtained and were attempting to enforce their unappealed judgment for possession.1 The Debtor’s counsel explained that the Debtor had rented the Premises under a Section 82 certificate which had been terminated by HACC effective on the date of her relocation [99]*99into the Premises on April 23, 1997, after a fire in her previous Section 8 unit at 163 West Lincoln Highway, Coatesville, Pennsylvania (“the Lincoln Premises”). Counsel further explained that the Debtor had appealed the decision terminating her Section 8 certificate, but had received an unsuccessful decision in an administrative appeal before an HACC hearing officer. However, she had appealed this decision further to the CCP.

The parties agreed that, if the Debtor’s Section 8 certificate were reinstated, most of the delinquent back rent would be repaid through the subsidy. The Landlords indicated some dissatisfaction with the Debtor as a tenant, but mainly argued that it was' unreasonable to deter their eviction efforts for an indefinite period of time waiting for the issue of the propriety of the Debtor’s termination of assistance to be resolved by the CCP, during which time they would receive no rent for the Premises. We attempted to accommodate both parties by suggesting that the Debtor immediately remove the CCP action to this court and, if she did so, that we would carry the Motion to an expedited date of a hearing on the removed Proceeding on November 25,1997. This resolution was memorialized in our Order of November 13, 1997, in which it was also noted that it was agreed that the factual allegations of the Motion would be deemed admitted by the Debtor, and in which we stated that we would most likely grant the Motion if the Debtor failed to promptly prevail in restoring her Section 8 certificate in the removed Proceeding.

The Debtor’s pleading effecting removal, styled as a “Complaint Seeking Review of Wrongful Termination of Debtor’s ‘Section 8’ Housing Assistance Certificate,” attached the adverse decision of the administrative officer of June 26, 1997. Therein, the hearing officer upheld three grounds asserted by HACC in support of termination of the Debtor’s Section 8 certificate: (1) her failure to report in writing accurate information concerning her income from employment and the number of children in her household; (2) the Debtor’s failure to report that her husband, Dorian Pennington, resided in the Premises with her family; and (3) a violation of the “One Strike and You’re Out” policy in light of Pennington’s alleged drug-related criminal activity. On November 25, 1997, counsel for the Landlords, the Debtor, and HACC appeared for the trial of the Proceeding, per our Order of November 13, 1997. HACC graciously agreed not to oppose the removal of the CCP action to this court and was prepared to proceed on the merits. See also page 100 n. 3 infra. HACC also graciously informed the court that it was unable to continue to rely on the “One Strike and You’re Out” policy as a ground for termination because its evidence of alleged drug-related criminal activity of Pennington consisted of an arrest occurring over a year prior to termination of the Debtor’s Section 8 certificate, whereas the applicable Regulation limits actionable drug violations to those occurring within one year of the termination proceeding. 24 C.F.R. § 982.553(b).

The first issue to be addressed was the applicable procedure and standard of review for this court in deciding the Proceeding. Although the HACC suggested that 2 Pa.C.S. § 704, relating to appeal from decisions of a “Commonwealth agency,” was relevant, we indicated that we believed that these issues were controlled by 2 Pa.C.S. § 754. The particular provision we deemed applicable was 2 Pa.C.S. § 754(a), which provides that,

[i]n the event a full and complete record of the proceedings before the local agency was not made, the court may hear the appeal de novo, or may remand the proceedings to the agency for the purpose of making a full and complete record or for further disposition in accordance with the order of the court.

Discussing this section in an analogous setting, it was held, in McLaughlin v. Centre County Housing Authority, 151 Pa.Cmwlth. 292, 294, 616 A.2d 1073, 1074-75 (1992), that a common pleas court, sitting as was this court in lieu of the CCP, had appropriately proceeded in an appeal of a Section 8 certificate termination by conducting a de novo hearing where there was no transcription of the testimony from the housing authority’s administrative proceeding. Implicit in the McLaughlin decision on this point is the determination that a housing authority is in[100]*100deed a “local government agency” as that term is used in Pennsylvania administrative law, as opposed to a “Commonwealth agency.” See

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
215 B.R. 97, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 1928, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sweeney-v-housing-authority-of-chester-county-in-re-sweeney-paeb-1997.