Nozzi v. HACLA, No. 13-56223 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs, a putative class of representatives of a group of tenants who receive rent subsidies through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, filed suit asserting that defendants reduced the amount of Section 8 beneficiaries' subsidies without providing adequate notice, in violation of federal and state law. The court concluded that the district court erred by granting summary judgment to the Housing Authority; there is no genuine dispute of fact as to whether the Housing Authority failed to provide meaningful information to Section 8 beneficiaries about the change to the payment standard and the effect of that change upon the beneficiaries and their property interests; that failure violated both the requirements of the Voucher Program regulations and the requirements of procedural due process; and that failure also resulted in a violation of two state statutes which require public entities to take reasonable efforts to comply with the mandatory duties established by federal regulations. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of defendants, directed that summary judgment be entered in favor of plaintiffs, and remanded for further proceedings in a putative class action in which plaintiffs alleged that defendants, the local administrators of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, reduced the amount of Section 8 beneficiaries’ subsidies without providing adequate notice, in violation of federal and state law. The panel first noted that this Court had previously held that plaintiffs have a property interest in Section 8 benefits to which the procedural protections of the Due Process Clause apply. Nozzi v. Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, 425 F. App’x 539 (9th Cir. 2011). The panel held that the Housing Authority failed to provide meaningful information to Section 8 beneficiaries about a change to the program’s NOZZI V. HACLA 3 subsidy payment standard and the effect of that change upon the beneficiaries and their property interests. The panel held that this failure violated both the requirements of the Voucher Program regulations and the requirements of procedural due process. It also resulted in a violation of two state statutes, California Government Code §§ 815.6 & 815.2, which require public entities to take reasonable efforts to comply with the mandatory duties established by federal regulations. The panel reversed and remanded with instructions for the district court to enter summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs on the merits of the federal and state law claims. The panel ordered that on remand, the case be reassigned to a different district judge—a judge other than the two identified by the current district judge who himself had declined to hear the case further. The panel stated that further factual development may be needed to determine the size and validity of plaintiffs’ class and to determine the appropriate remedy.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on January 29, 2016.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.