Faylor v. Szupper

The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act (URA) provided relocation-assistance payments to individuals who had been displaced as a result of federally funded projects. The County of Westmoreland (the county) received federal funds to develop affordable housing. The county contracted with Homes Build Hope, Inc. (HBH) (defendant), a private entity, to develop an affordable-housing project (the project). The county disbursed federal funds for the project to HBH. Cheryl Faylor (plaintiff) was displaced from her home as a result of the project. Under the URA, the county was required to provide relocation-assistance payments to individuals displaced by the project. The county delegated this responsibility to HBH. Although Faylor received a relocation-assistance payment from HBH, she believed she was entitled to a higher amount of assistance. Faylor thus informed HBH of her intent to appeal the amount of the relocation-assistance payment. According to the regulations implementing the URA, an individual who appealed the amount of a relocation-assistance payment was entitled to receive documents pertinent to her appeal from the entity that provided the payment. HBH failed to provide Faylor with access to documents pertinent to her appeal. Faylor subsequently filed suit against HBH, bringing a number of claims. One claim alleged that HBH deprived Faylor of procedural due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. HBH filed a motion to dismiss. The district court took the motion under advisement.