Federal Housing Administration v. The Darlington, Inc. (1958)
- Docket
- 13
- Decided
- 1958-01-01
- Category
- General
Summary
Question: Does the Veterans’ Emergency Housing Act of 1946 allow mortgage companies to rent to transients? Conclusion: No. Justice William O. Douglas delivered the opinion of the 5-3 majority. The Court held that the intent of the Act was to provide housing for veterans, which implies a degree of permanency. Previous interpretation by the FHA also understood the Act to exclude transient occupancy. The Court also held that the addition of the exclusion to the Act after the FHA contracted to ensure the mortgages was not unfair to The Darlington, Inc. Justice John M. Harlan wrote a dissent arguing that the majority’s opinion constituted an “unconstitutional retroactive application” of the new exclusions in the Act. He also argued that there was no language in the Act that expressly prohibited The Darlington, Inc. from renting to transients, so the corporation’s actions violated neither the letter nor the intent of the Act. Justice Felix Frankfurter and Justice Charles E. Whittaker joined in the dissent. In a separate dissent, Justice Felix Frankfurter argued that the later changes to the Act did not negate the rights of mortgage companies to rent to transients that existed under the previous construction of the Act.