Opinion ID: 146136
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fincher as a Third-Party Beneficiary to a Contract

Text: Fincher next asserts that he is entitled to bring suit as a third-party beneficiary of a contract entered into between SBHF and its funding agencies, namely HUD. The district court rejected this claim because Fincher did not produce the contract nor did Fincher identify any contract terms or provisions he believes provide him with the basis for a claim as a third-party beneficiary. Fincher claims the district court erred by requiring him to cite a contract or contractual provision for which he is a third-party beneficiary. He relies on Lloyd v. Regional Transportation Authority, 548 F.2d 1277 (7th Cir. 1977) for the proposition that the third-party beneficiary status in federally funded programs stems alone from the existence of administrative rules imposed by the funding source and the recipient of those funds. However, at both the district court level and on appeal, Fincher did not point to any specific regulations that could stand in the place of a contract to support his claims. In his reply brief, Fincher cites to 24 C.F.R. § 880.505(a), which requires that there exists some contract between HUD and Section 8 landlords. This argument misses the point. Fincher still must point to specific regulations (or contract provisions) that are being violated in this case to give rise to a cause of action. It is possible that this absence is intentional because, as pointed out by Eidson, the regulatory structure does not provide any enforceable rights to individuals applying to live in a specific Section 8 residence. Without pointing to some contractual provision (or regulation) that grants him these rights and that SBHF has violated, this claim cannot stand. The district court correctly granted summary judgment on this issue.