## Facts

- Forest City Residential Management, Inc. managed federally subsidized Section 8 housing units and leased a townhome to Lashawn Beasley.
- The lease permitted termination for “drug-related criminal activity on or near the premises.”
- Beasley had multiple sclerosis, held a valid Michigan medical marijuana card, and used marijuana in her unit to manage symptoms.
- Forest City initiated a state-court termination action based on marijuana use; Beasley asserted that permitting medical marijuana was a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Rehabilitation Act.
- Forest City dismissed the state action and filed a federal declaratory-judgment action seeking a declaration that it could enforce the lease provision and that Beasley was not entitled to an accommodation permitting marijuana use.
- Beasley moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim; Forest City moved for summary judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether the dispute presented an actual, justiciable controversy supporting subject-matter jurisdiction and declaratory relief.
2. Whether the FHA and/or Rehabilitation Act require a reasonable accommodation allowing a tenant in federally subsidized housing to use medical marijuana when marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

## Decision

- The court denied Beasley’s motion to dismiss, finding a concrete and ongoing dispute over the parties’ rights and obligations.
- The court granted Forest City’s motion for summary judgment in part, holding that neither the FHA nor the Rehabilitation Act required Forest City to accommodate Beasley’s medical marijuana use in the unit.
- The court denied other requested declaratory relief as unnecessary or beyond what had to be decided to resolve the central accommodation question.

## Legal Principles

- Declaratory relief is appropriate when parties have a real and immediate dispute about their legal rights and obligations; dismissal of related state litigation does not, by itself, make the federal dispute moot.
- Under federal law, marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance; state medical marijuana authorization does not change marijuana’s status under federal statutes.
- The FHA and Rehabilitation Act exclude from certain disability protections individuals “currently engaging in the illegal use of a controlled substance,” determined by federal law.
- A requested accommodation is not “reasonable” when it would require a housing provider participating in federal programs to permit ongoing conduct that federal law treats as criminal.

## Conclusion

The court held that a Section 8 housing provider was not required under the FHA or the Rehabilitation Act to grant a disability-related accommodation that would permit a tenant’s medical marijuana use in the premises, because such use is illegal under federal law and falls outside the statutes’ protective scope for accommodation purposes.


Forest City Residential Mgmt., Inc. v. Beasley, 71 F. Supp. 3d 715 (E.D. Mich. 2014)