Section 45-1561

Citation: Section 45-1561
Parent Document: Habib v. Thurston, 517 A.2d 1 (1986)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Effective Date: 1986-10-30
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1995493/habib-v-thurston/ ↗

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One other aspect of the McNeal analysis requires comment. Both McNeal and a later notice case which applied its teaching, Goodwin v. Barnes, 456 A.2d 1246, 1247-48 (D.C.1983), placed significance on the tenant's assertion of code violations in the answer to the possessory action. Because that assertion was irrelevant to the notice case itself, howeverand indeed that portion of the answer would have been vulnerable to a motion to strikeit is clear that a tenant need not assert code violations in the answer to the possessory action to preserve the right to that defense at a McNeal hearing. We understand McNeal and Goodwin to mean merely that the tenant has to raise code violations in a way that timely notifies the landlord and the court that a Javins defense will be asserted at the post-trial evidentiary hearing on disbursement of registry funds. Since Super.Ct. L & T R. 5(a), supra note 10, does not require a written answer, we deem it sufficient for a tenant orally to notify the landlord and the court about code violations early enough, with sufficient specificity, to afford the landlord a reasonable time within which to prepare for the McNeal hearing. A better practice, of course, would be the timely filing of a written pleading directed at the protective order; we see no violation of Super.Ct. L & *19 T R. 5(b) if that is done, since the pleading would not be part of the notice case. See supra note 10. (Moreover, written pleadings will be necessary if the McNeal hearing is to be certified to the Civil Assignment Office for a jury trial. Infra Part IV.D. (2)).

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