Tenant Can't Move Drug Holdover Case to Federal Court

Landlord sued to evict tenant and her two subtenants after the district attorney (DA) told landlord that police had entered the apartment with a search warrant and found it was used for illegal marijuana dealing. The DA asked landlord to begin the eviction proceeding. Tenant then removed the case to federal court, claiming that since the building was operated under a Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment program under HUD, the case belonged in federal court. The court then ruled that the case should go back to Nassau County housing court. Federal courts have the authority to decide cases arising under the laws of the United States. Unless there was an issue as to whether the apartment was covered by the Section 8 program, the case raised no federal question requiring a hearing by the federal court. And, although the termination notice referred to the federal regulations governing the HAP program, the real basis for the case was that tenant violated his lease by using the apartment for an illegal business. These were state law claims that could more properly be decided in Nassau District Court.

Henry Phipps Plaza South Associates Ltd. Partnership v. Rodriguez: Index No. 12 Civ. 1060, 2012 WL 614371 (SDNY; 2/27/12; Kaplan, DJ)