| Court: | DC Circuit Court |
| Facts: | Housing code violations; Mrs. Brown witholds rent, on the theory that the lease contract was illegal. Landlord knew of the code violations (some of which were severe), and did not abate them. |
| Posture: | Appeal from trial court judgment, but it's not obvious what that judgment was. |
| Issue: | Should we uphold the lease? |
| Holding: | No. |
| Rule: | If we uphold the lease, we gut § 2304, which provides for safe clean housing. |
| Reasoning: | There's a law saying that housing has to meet certain standing. Landlord entered a lease knowing that the housing did not. The contract was therefore illegal. Illegal contracts will not be enforced to the benefit of the wrongdoer. |
| Dicta: | |