additional protection for tenants.
Sherwood Auburn disputes this conclusion, asserting that, if the landlord
were permitted to commence an unlawful detainer action on the 14th day after
providing notice, tenants would nevertheless benefit from being permitted to
remain in the premises for an additional 16 days before being required to vacate.
This assertion reflects a misunderstanding of unlawful detainer law. Indeed,
service of the pay or vacate notice is the landlord requiring the tenant to quit the
premises. Only when the tenant refuses the demand to vacate the premises (or
to pay the rent deficiency) can the landlord commence an unlawful detainer
action. In other words, it is the landlord—not the superior court—that requires
the tenant to vacate the premises. The superior court simply enforces that
requirement if the tenant refuses.
3
In addition, Sherwood Auburn’s preferred interpretation of the statutory
language disregards the source of Congress’s authority to impose the CARES
Act notice requirement. In enacting § 9058, Congress acted pursuant to its
“broad power under the Spending Clause of the Constitution to set the terms on
which it disburses federal funds.” Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, PLLC,
___ U.S. ___, 142 S. Ct. 1562, 1568, 212 L. Ed. 2d 552 (2022).7 “‘When
7
The Spending Clause of U.S. Constitution provides that “[t]he congress shall have
power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the
common defense and general welfare of the United States.” U.S. CONST. art. I, § 8, cl. 1.
10
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
No. 84119-0-I/11
Congress acts pursuant to its spending power, it generates legislation much in