FACTS WHICH LED TO A PROCEEDING THAT WAS ULTIMATELY SEALED AND HEARSAY ARE ADMISSIBLE AT ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS, THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY DID NOT VIOLATE PETITIONER’S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS IN THIS DRUG ACTIVITY-DELINQUENT RENT ACTION (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, noted that an administrative tribunal can consider the facts which led up to a record which is sealed and hearsay can be considered at an administrative hearing. The matter which was before the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) concerned drug activity at an apartment and rent delinquency. Supreme Court had held that petitioner’s due process rights were violated (reversed by the First Department):

… [T]he IAS court erred in rejecting the arresting officer’s testimony because the underlying criminal proceeding against petitioner had been dismissed and sealed. The sealing of a criminal case will not immunize a defendant against all future consequences of the charges, and an administrative tribunal is permitted to consider evidence of the facts leading to those charges when they are independent of the sealed records… . The IAS court’s finding that the officer’s testimony was improperly based on sealed records, rather than his independent recollection, was simply not accurate. Regardless, the “reception of erroneously unsealed evidence at [an administrative] hearing does not, without more, require annulment of respondent’s determination” … .

The IAS court also improperly rejected the officer’s testimony as impermissible hearsay. It is well-settled that hearsay is admissible in administrative proceedings, that it may be the basis for an administrative determination and — if sufficiently relevant and probative — may constitute substantial evidence alone … . Petitioner did not suffer any due process violation at the hands of NYCHA. Matter of Rosa v New York City Hous. Auth., Straus Houses, 2018 NY Slip Op 02552, First Dept 4-12-18

​ADMINISTRATIVE LAW (FACTS WHICH LED TO A PROCEEDING THAT WAS ULTIMATELY SEALED AND HEARSAY ARE ADMISSIBLE AT ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS, THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY DID NOT VIOLATE PETITIONER’S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS IN THIS DRUG ACTIVITY-DELINQUENT RENT ACTION (FIRST DEPT))/EVIDENCE (ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, SEALED RECORDS, HEARSAY, FACTS WHICH LED TO A PROCEEDING THAT WAS ULTIMATELY SEALED AND HEARSAY ARE ADMISSIBLE AT ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS, THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY DID NOT VIOLATE PETITIONER’S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS IN THIS DRUG ACTIVITY-DELINQUENT RENT ACTION (FIRST DEPT))/SEALED RECORDS (ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, FACTS WHICH LED TO A PROCEEDING THAT WAS ULTIMATELY SEALED AND HEARSAY ARE ADMISSIBLE AT ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS, THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY DID NOT VIOLATE PETITIONER’S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS IN THIS DRUG ACTIVITY-DELINQUENT RENT ACTION (FIRST DEPT))/HEARSAY (ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, FACTS WHICH LED TO A PROCEEDING THAT WAS ULTIMATELY SEALED AND HEARSAY ARE ADMISSIBLE AT ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS, THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY DID NOT VIOLATE PETITIONER’S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS IN THIS DRUG ACTIVITY-DELINQUENT RENT ACTION (FIRST DEPT))