Court Opinion

ID: 9489622
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:19:49.822878+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:37.372462
License: Public Domain

FLAUM, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The majority correctly notes that this case raises the purely legal issue of whether a particular incident of harassment was sufficiently egregious to create a hostile housing environment claim under the Fair Housing Act (the “FHA”). The majority reviews this legal issue de novo and concludes that Albert DiCenso’s conduct did not create an objectively hostile environment. Because, in my view, we must defer to HUD’s reasonable interpretation of what constitutes a hostile housing environment, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision.
It is well-established that considerable weight should be given to an agency’s construction of a statutory scheme that it has been entrusted to administer. See Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 844, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2782-83, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). The Supreme Court has held that HUD’s interpretation of the FHA “ordinarily commands considerable deference” since “HUD [is] the federal agency primarily assigned to implement and administer Title VIII.” Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U.S. 91, 107, 99 S.Ct. 1601, 1611-12, 60 L.Ed.2d 66 (1979); see Pfaff v. United States Dep’t of Housing & Urban Dev., 88 F.3d 739, 747 (9th Cir.1996); Cowherd v. United States Dep’t of Housing & Urban Dev., 827 F.2d 40, 42 (7th Cir.1987) (finding that Congress vested HUD “with considerable discretion to implement the various and often competing goals of the national housing policy”). The majority recognizes that Chevron calls for deference where an agency has expertise in reconciling conflicting policy considerations that underlie a statute, but posits that, because HUD has not enacted hostile housing environment guidelines, we need not defer to HUD’s con-struetion of the FHA. Yet an agency is free to formulate policy through individual adjudicative proceedings rather than rulemaking. NLRB v. Bell Aerospace Co., 416 U.S. 267, 293-94, 94 S.Ct. 1757, 1771-72, 40 L.Ed.2d 134 (1974). Thus an agency’s interpretation of the statute that it administers commands deference, irrespective of whether that interpretation emerges as a result of an adjudicative proceeding or a rulemaking process. Pfaff 88 F.3d at 747; see Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Bldg. & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U.S. 568, 574, 108 S.Ct. 1392, 1396-97, 99 L.Ed.2d 645 (1988) (applying Chevron deference in the context of an adjudicative proceeding); Federal Election Comm’n v. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Comm., 454 U.S. 27, 31-32, 102 S.Ct. 38, 41-42, 70 L.Ed.2d 23 (1981) (finding that interpretation developed by agency during adjudication was entitled to deference). The scope of our review of this agency action is therefore clearly limited. We “may not substitute [our] own construction of a statutory provision for a reasonable interpretation made by the administrator of an agency.” Chevron, 467 U.S. at 844, 104 S.Ct. at 2782.
In the current ease, the Secretary of HUD has taken the position that DiCenso’s conduct was sufficiently severe as to create a claim for hostile housing environment under the FHA Section 804(b) of the FHA prohibits gender-based discrimination in the sale or *1010rental of a dwelling, or in the “provision of services” in connection with such sale or rental. 42 U.S.C. § 3604(b). The Secretary, consistently with the approach adopted by the majority, believes that a hostile housing environment claim is actionable “when the offensive behavior unreasonably interferes with use and enjoyment of the premises.” Honce v. Vigil, 1 F.3d 1085, 1090 (10th Cir.1993). The Secretary concludes that DiCen-so’s offensive conduct was sufficiently severe to satisfy this test, despite the fact that the conduct only occurred once. DiCenso’s unwelcome caressing of Brown, combined with his offer of “sex for rent” and his hurling of gender-oriented epithets after Brown’s rejection of his offer, certainly provides the Secretary with ample support for this conclusion. Although the majority may very well be correct in stating that DiCenso’s conduct would not be sufficient to give rise to a claim for sexual harassment under our Title VII precedent, the majority provides no basis for doubting the reasonableness of the Secretary’s interpretation of the FHA. In conclusion it is my judgment that the Secretary’s interpretation of the FHA is a reasonable one and is therefore entitled to deference.