On June 30, 2018, eight Hurricane Maria evacuees from Puerto Rico who were receiving Transitional Shelter Assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) filed this putative class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The case was assigned to District Judge Timothy S. Hillman.

The plaintiffs sued FEMA under the Administrative Procedures Act and the Declaratory Judgment Act. The plaintiffs, represented by LatinoJustice PRLDEF (Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund), Hector E. Pineiro, and Manatt Phelps and Phillips, LLP, sought injunctive and declaratory relief, claiming that FEMA was planning to unlawfully terminate the TSA program which provided direct funding to hotels and motels that served as shelters for Puerto Ricans who evacuated the territory due to Hurricane Maria. The plaintiffs specifically alleged that FEMA was planning to terminate its TSA program for Puerto Rican evacuees, without any plan to transition the evacuees into longer-term housing. The plaintiffs argued that this was in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the Stafford Act that require nondiscrimination in disaster assistance. In their motion for a preliminary injunction, the plaintiff’s sought to extend the provision of the TSA program until all eligible individuals either received temporary housing or found permanent housing.

On June 30, 2018, the same day the complaint was filed, Judge Leo T. Sorokin entered a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”), enjoining FEMA from terminating the TSA program until at least midnight July 3, 2018, enabling Plaintiffs and the class to remain in transitional shelters until checkout time on July 4, 2018.

Right as the initial TRO was set to end, Judge Hillman extended it until at least midnight July 23, 2018. Judge Hillman extended the TRO to give the parties an opportunity to fully brief the important and complex issues raised by plaintiffs’ complaint and their corresponding motion for preliminary injunction.

Judge Hillman subsequently extended the TRO on two more occasions: July 19, 2018 (extending it until August 7, 2018) and on August 22, 2018 (extending it until August 31, 2018).

In plaintiffs' first amended complaint, filed on July 12, six named plaintiffs were dropped from the suit and two additional plaintiffs were added. Plaintiffs also asserted new claims for violation of their equal protection rights under the Fifth Amendment.

Presumably because the plaintiffs had already received several extensions granting them access to temporary housing, on August 30, 2018, Judge Hillman denied plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. The Court found that the plaintiffs did not have a high likelihood of success on the merits - the touchstone of the preliminary injunction inquiry. Judge Hillman ordered the defendants to refrain from terminating the program that provided the payment for shelter for the plaintiffs (including the class) until midnight September 13, 2018, in order to give the evacuees time to make alternative housing arrangements.

On September 20, 2018, Judge Hillman granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the case entirely. The contents of this order are unavailable to us at this time. The case is now closed.

Michael Beech - 02/08/2019


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