Burke v. Oxford House of Oregon Chapter V

103 P.3d 1184, 196 Or. App. 726, 2004 Ore. App. LEXIS 1687
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 29, 2004
Docket0105-05394; A119933
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 103 P.3d 1184 (Burke v. Oxford House of Oregon Chapter V) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burke v. Oxford House of Oregon Chapter V, 103 P.3d 1184, 196 Or. App. 726, 2004 Ore. App. LEXIS 1687 (Or. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinions

[728]*728ARMSTRONG, J.

Defendants Oxford House of Oregon Chapter V, Oxford House-Ramona, and Oxford House, Inc., appeal from a judgment for plaintiff on a claim under the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (ORLTA). Defendants’ two assignments of error amount to an assertion that the trial court erred in entering summary judgment for plaintiff because ORLTA does not apply to them. Defendants present two arguments. First, they argue that ORS 90.110 excludes them from ORLTA’s coverage. Second, they argue that, to the extent ORLTA applies to them, it is preempted by the Federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, 42 USC § 300x-25 (2000). Because we conclude that ORS 90.110 does indeed exclude defendants from ORLTA’s coverage, we need not address defendants’ preemption argument. We reverse.

Because the trial court ruled on cross-motions for summary judgment, we determine whether either party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Stevens v. Bispham, 316 Or 221, 223, 851 P2d 556 (1993). For the following reasons, we conclude that defendants are entitled to judgment under that standard.

Oxford House, Inc., is a national organization dedicated to helping recovering drug and alcohol addicts make the transition to independent lives in an environment that allows them to continue their recovery process without professional supervision. To promote that goal, Oxford House, Inc., and local organizations such as Oxford House of Oregon Chapter V have established unsupervised halfway houses for recovering addicts. The Oxford House model is based on three basic rules: (1) each house must be a self-governing democracy; (2) each house must be financially self-sufficient; and (3) any person using drugs or alcohol must be immediately expelled from the house. Oxford House-Ramona is an Oxford House located in Portland.

Plaintiff lived in Oxford House-Ramona. By majority vote, her coresidents found her in violation of an Oxford House rule prohibiting disruptive behavior. They evicted her from the house with 15 minutes’ notice, and she complied. She subsequently brought an action against defendants, [729]*729claiming that defendants had evicted her in violation of ORLTA’s eviction requirements, specifically ORS 90.400. The trial court concluded (1) that the parties had a landlord-tenant agreement of the type covered by ORLTA; (2) that defendants were not exempt from ORLTA under ORS 90.110; (3) that the relevant provisions of ORLTA were not preempted by the Federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988; and (4) that plaintiff was entitled to her requested relief. Defendants challenge the last three conclusions on appeal.

Properly understood, two of the exclusions in ORLTA operate to exclude plaintiffs residential arrangement with defendants from the act: (1) ORS 90.110(3), which excludes “[o]ccupancy by a member of a fraternal or social organization in the portion of a structure operated for the benefit of the organization”; and (2) ORS 90.110(1), which excludes “ [residence at an institution, public or private, if incidental to detention or the provision of medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious or similar service, but not including residence in off-campus nondormitory housing.”

ORLTA broadly sweeps non-owner-occupied residential rental relationships into its coverage. ORS 90.115 provides that ORLTA “applies to, regulates and determines rights, obligations and remedies under a rental agreement, wherever made, for a dwelling unit located within this state.” However, ORS 90.110 excludes a limited class of rental arrangements from coverage under ORLTA. ORS 90.110 provides:

“Unless created to avoid the application of this chapter, the following arrangements are not governed by this chapter:
“(1) Residence at an institution, public or private, if incidental to detention or the provision of medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious or similar service, but not including residence in off-campus nondormitory housing.
“(2) Occupancy of a dwelling unit for no more than 90 days by a purchaser prior to the scheduled closing of a real estate sale or by a seller following the closing of a sale, in either case as permitted under the terms of an agreement for sale of a dwelling unit or the property of which it is a [730]*730part. The occupancy by a purchaser or seller described in this subsection may be terminated only pursuant to ORS 91.130. A tenant who holds but has not exercised an option to purchase the dwelling unit is not a purchaser for purposes of this subsection.
“(3) Occupancy by a member of a fraternal or social organization in the portion of a structure operated for the benefit of the organization.
“(4) Transient occupancy in a hotel or motel.
“(5) Occupancy by a squatter.
“(6) Vacation occupancy.
“(7) Occupancy by an employee of a landlord whose right to occupancy is conditional upon employment in and about the premises. However, the occupancy by an employee as described in this subsection may be terminated only pursuant to ORS 91.120.
“(8) Occupancy by an owner of a condominium unit or a holder of a proprietary lease in a cooperative.
“(9) Occupancy under a rental agreement covering premises used by the occupant primarily for agricultural purposes.”

The enumerated exclusions essentially fall into two groups: (1) exemptions for short-term housing and (2) exemptions for housing where the primary relationship between the parties is something other than a traditional residential landlord-tenant relationship.1 The exclusions in ORS 90.110(4) and (6) govern short-term housing (“transient occupancy in a hotel or motel” and “vacation occupancy” respectively). Underlying those exclusions is an assumption that the occupant of the property has a primary residence [731]*731somewhere other than the property at issue and that short-term housing should not be subject to ORLTA.

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Related

Oxford House at Yale v. Gilligan
10 A.3d 52 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2010)
Burke v. Oxford House of Oregon Chapter V
137 P.3d 1278 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2006)
Thomas v. Cohen
Sixth Circuit, 2006
Burke v. Oxford House of Oregon Chapter V
103 P.3d 1184 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
103 P.3d 1184, 196 Or. App. 726, 2004 Ore. App. LEXIS 1687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burke-v-oxford-house-of-oregon-chapter-v-orctapp-2004.