Thorpe v. Housing Authority of the City of Durham (1968)
- Docket
- 20
- Decided
- 1968-01-01
- Category
- General
Summary
Question: May a tenant in a federally assisted housing project be evicted without notification of the reason when the Department of Housing and Urban development implemented such a procedure after the eviction had been initiated? Conclusion: No. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote for the unanimous majority, holding that the Housing Authority must follow the HUD circular procedure in Thorpe’s eviction. Since Thorpe had not physically been evicted from her apartment, the court saw no distinction between eviction proceedings that began after the circular was issued and Thorpe’s case. The Court also decided that the circular was mandatory, not advisory, and it was not an unconstitutional impairment of the Housing Authorities lease agreement. Justice Hugo L. Black wrote a special concurrence stating that because the Housing Authority admitted to following the circular nothing needed to be decided other than that the circular applied in this case.