Housing Authority of the City of Bayonne v. Mims

Deborah Mims and her daughter Sincerrae Ross (the tenants) (defendants) were tenants of the Housing Authority of the City of Bayonne (the housing authority) (plaintiff). Over the course of the period from September 1999 through October 2005, the tenants complained multiple times to the housing authority—and to other public entities—concerning the lack of proper provision of services and maintenance by the housing authority and concerning other tenancy-related matters. The tenants received multiple notices to cease violations of the lease agreement from the housing authority. Several times, the tenants received a notice immediately following a complaint to the housing authority. In October 2005, following service by the housing authority of a notice to quit and a demand for possession on the tenants, the housing authority filed to evict the tenants, alleging that they had violated the terms of the lease. The tenants argued that the housing authority was acting in retaliation for the tenants’ complaints and asked the court to void the notice to quit as a retaliatory act in violation of New Jersey’s Tenant Reprisal Act. The court found that some of the grounds that served as bases for the eviction of the tenants by the housing authority were justified. However, the court agreed with the tenants that the housing authority was acting in a retaliatory manner that would merit the dismissal of the housing authority’s action for eviction. Nevertheless, the court held that the act was preempted by federal law and therefore could not serve as a basis for the tenants’ defense against eviction on the grounds of the housing authority’s retaliatory motive. Federal law on tenant evictions from public housing specifically incorporated state law and provided that evictions may only be pursued pursuant to state law, and that tenants may rely on state eviction law if the state law provided additional procedural rights beyond those provided under federal law. The tenants appealed.