District of Columbia v. Towers (2021)

Citation: District of Columbia v. Towers (2021)
Parent Document: District of Columbia v. Towers (2021)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Effective Date: 2021-05-13
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4882760/district-of-columbia-v-towers/ ↗

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The District has adequately demonstrated that, without a stay, there is risk of
irreparable harm to the defendants from the property owners’ suits for possession
should the property owners be permitted to file them. Although the eviction
moratorium has not been challenged, the District argues that there is still the danger
that tenants will self-evict—that is, out of fear, misunderstanding, or a lack of
resources to fight eviction, they will move out of their homes simply as a result of
being made a defendant to a suit for possession. “The upheaval of a tenant from his
home, even if he can find alternative housing, creates a cognizable irreparable
injury.” Akassy v. William Penn Apartments Ltd. P’ship, 891 A.2d 291, 309 (D.C.
2006). It is not fatal to its argument that the District cannot supply hard numbers to
show that the absence of a stay would cause self-eviction on a mass scale, or that
some number of tenants have been successfully advised of their rights. The District
need only show that tenants are in some “danger of suffering irreparable harm” that,
when considered in conjunction with the other stay factors, justifies temporary
equitable relief. Reid, 104 A.3d at 876–77 (internal quotation marks omitted)
(rejecting the argument that families experiencing homelessness had failed to present
sufficient evidence of irreparable harm as a result of being housed in congregate
shelters); cf. Akassy, 891 A.2d at 310 (explaining that “if irreparable harm is clearly
shown, the movant may prevail by demonstrating that he or she has a ‘substantial
case on the merits’”). Given that the vast majority of tenants who appear in Landlord
Tenant Court “cannot afford counsel and are unable to obtain free representation
from the District’s oversubscribed legal services providers,” Wylie v. Glenncrest,
143 A.3d 73, 84 (D.C. 2016),21 we conclude that there is a real danger of self-

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