Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Nunez, 460 Mass. 511 (2011)

Citation: Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Nunez, 460 Mass. 511 (2011)
Parent Document: Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Nunez, 460 Mass. 511 (2011)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2011-09-06
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6580334/federal-national-mortgage-assn-v-nunez/ ↗

Full Text

955 chars

Turning first to legislative intent, we agree that the Legislature did not in unequivocal terms manifest its intent that c. 186A apply to foreclosing owners that had already purchased property at a foreclosure sale. While it is plain that the Legislature wished the new statute to take effect immediately to protect tenants in foreclosed properties from eviction, neither the emergency preamble nor the statutory text demonstrates a clear intent to apply the statute to properties already foreclosed on. See Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 328 n.4 (1997) (“cases where this Court has found truly ‘retroactive’ effect adequately authorized by a statute have involved statutory language that was so clear that it could sustain only one interpretation”); Landgraf v. USI Film Prods., supra at 285-286 (that “retroactive application of a new statute would vindicate its purpose more fully ... is not sufficient to rebut the presumption against retroactivity”).

Other Sections in This Document (43)

Full Text