October 2, 2012:
Joshua N. Garick appeared before the Supreme Judicial Court – the highest appellate court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts – to present oral arguments on behalf of his client whose participation in the Massachusetts Residential Voucher Program was improperly terminated by the Chelsea Housing Authority.
Mr. Garick argued that the housing authority’s failure to perform indispensable components of the grievance procedure such as conducting a mandatory informal settlement conference, and conducting an administrative agency hearing free from improper ex parte communications denied his client due process of law and prevented his client from receiving a fair hearing. As a result, these procedural problems prevented his client from adequately adjudicating a good faith disagreement over an ambiguous regulation that limited a guest’s stay at her apartment. Mr. Garick is optimistic that these hearings will save his client’s tenancy and allow her to continue receiving subsidized housing.
Video (courtesy of Suffolk University Law School and the Supreme Judicial Court) is available here:
VIDEO: Oral Arguments
Briefs and other case information is available here:
SJC Docket (SJC-11090)
Joshua N. Garick is an experienced appellate advocate with an extensive Appellate Litigation practice. He has experience before the Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Appellate Division of the District Court.