Steven Ward v. Thos D. Walsh, Inc., Realtors

Whether the District ofColumbia court violates the Due Process Clause of theFourteenth Amendment and the Seventh Amendment’s right to a jury trial by ‘resuscitating’ a facially void eviction complaint—filed in violation of a mandatory jurisdictional condition precedent (D.C. Code §16- 1501 (c)(l))—through the use of interlocutory 'Bell Hearings' and 'Protective Orders' that compel financial payments into a court registry while simultaneously denying the tenant’s right to a jury trial based on a shifting, orally-amended rent amount that was never verified under penalty of perjury.

Whether the court proceeded without any basis of authority to refuse to dismiss an unconstitutional exercise of subject-matter jurisdiction in violation of a jurisdictional condition precedent such that a filing contrary to D.C. Code § 16-1501 (c)(l) seeking "back rent" for periods of non­ registration is void ab initio.