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Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 1029055.pdf

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Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 1029055.pdf
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Washington (state)
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Indus., 140 Wn.2d 35, 43, 992 P.2d 1002 (2000).

Subsection 9058(c) contains two paragraphs. Paragraph (1) precludes landlords

from requiring a tenant to vacate prior to providing 30 days’ notice. 15 U.S.C. §

9058(c)(1). Paragraph (2) provides that such notice cannot be issued until after the 120-

day moratorium expires as set out in subsection (b). 15 U.S.C. § 9058(c)(2). These two

paragraphs are connected with the word “and.” We presume lawmakers use the term

“and” conjunctively. State v. Hodgins, 190 Wn. App. 437, 443-44, 360 P.3d 850 (2015)

(citing State v. Tiffany, 44 Wash. 602, 603-04, 87 P. 932 (1906); State v. Irizarry, 111

Wn.2d 591, 602, 763 P.2d 432 (1988) (Callow, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part)).

Thus, the plain language of subsection (c)(1) connects its 30-day notice provision to

subsection (c)(2). In turn, the plain language of subsection (c)(2) ties the notice

requirement of subsection (c)(1) to the failure to pay rent provision in subsection (b)(1).

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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
Hous. Auth. v. Knight, No. 102905-5

Reading the provisions together, subsection (b)’s 120-day moratorium must expire

before landlords may issue an eviction under subsection (c)(1). The moratorium is

limited to evictions for nonpayment of rent. 15 U.S.C. § 9058(b). Thus, subsection

(c)(2)’s reference to subsection (b) indicates that Congress intended to limit the 30-day

notice requirement, namely to evictions for failure to pay rent.

Significantly, the notice provision is located in the section titled “Temporary

moratorium on eviction filings.” 15 U.S.C. § 9058. Unlike captions generated by our

state code reviser, section headings adopted as a part of a statute may be referred to as a