Greene et al. v. Lindsey et al. (456 U.S. 444)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 17, 1982 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 456 U.S. 444 · 102 S. Ct. 1874
- Decided
- May 17, 1982
- Term
- October Term 1981
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Brennan
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court. A Kentucky statute provides that in forcible entry or de-tainer actions, service of process may be made under certain circumstances by posting a summons on the door of a tenant’s apartment. The question presented is whether this statute, as applied to tenants in a public housing project, fails to afford those tenants the notice of proceedings initiated against them required by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. I Appellees Linnie Lindsey, Barbara Hodgens, and Pamela Ray are tenants in a Louisville, Ky., housing project. Appellants are the Sheriff of Jefferson County, Ky., and certain unnamed Deputy Sheriffs charged with responsibility for serving process in forcible entry and detainer actions. In 1975, the Housing Authority of Louisville initiated detainer actions against each of appellees, seeking repossession of their apartments. Service of process was made pursuant to Ky. Rev. Stat. § 454.030 (1975), which states: “If the officer directed to serve notice on the defendant in forcible entry or detainer proceedings cannot find the defendant on the premises mentioned in the writ, he may explain and leave a copy of the notice wdth any member of the defendant’s family thereon over sixteen (16) years of age, and if no such person is found he may serve the notice by posting a copy thereof in a conspicuous place…
Excerpt of a 30,068-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.