Marmion v. M.O.M., Inc.

541 A.2d 659, 75 Md. App. 386, 1988 Md. App. LEXIS 111
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJune 3, 1988
DocketNo. 1299
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 541 A.2d 659 (Marmion v. M.O.M., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marmion v. M.O.M., Inc., 541 A.2d 659, 75 Md. App. 386, 1988 Md. App. LEXIS 111 (Md. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

ALPERT, Judge.

This is a tale of two sections of the same statute in apparent conflict. We must resolve this conflict in order to determine the lease rights of a mobile home park tenant.

The Proceedings

The appellant, George Marmion, Jr., received a letter dated June 26, 1987, informing him that the owner of the mobile home park in which he lived, M.O.M., Inc. (trading as Parkway Village and hereinafter referred to as “Parkway”) had elected not to renew his “month-to-month term rental agreement.” Mr. Marmion refused to vacate the premises, however, and Parkway filed a complaint in the District Court for Anne Arundel County seeking his eviction. The case was subsequently transferred to the circuit court when Mr. Marmion prayed a jury trial.

At trial, Parkway moved for summary judgment. It argued that it was entitled to terminate Marmion’s month-to-month tenancy and then file suit to evict him as a [389]*389holdover under § 8A-17021 of the Mobile Home Parks Act (hereinafter “the Act”), contained in the Real Prop.Code. Marmion, however, contended that Parkway was not entitled to terminate his month-to-month tenancy. He relied on § 8A-202(c)(2) of the Act which provides:

Upon the expiration of each 1-year term, or upon request of the resident at any time during a month-to-month term, a park owner shall offer to a qualified resident a rental agreement for a 1-year period.

He also cited § 8A-1101 which specifies only four grounds upon which a tenant may be evicted. Marmion argued that inasmuch as holding over beyond the termination of a month-to-month tenancy was not one of the four specified grounds for eviction, he could not be evicted.

The trial judge granted Parkway’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of § 8A-1702 and a Court of Appeals decision, Cider Barrel Mobile Home v. Eader, 287 Md. 571, 414 A.2d 1246 (1980). In doing so, he specifically pointed to dicta in Cider Barrel that said “the [Mobile Home Parks] Act does not prevent a park owner from refusing to renew an expired lease____” Id. at 581, 414 A.2d 1246.2 Obviously unhappy about his pending eviction, Marmion appealed asserting that:

I. The trial court erroneously granted summary judgment because there existed a factual question as to whether appellant was a “qualified resident,” entitled to a lease.
[390]*390II. Appellant’s lease may not be terminated except for cause.

Legislative History and Purpose

The State legislature enacted the Mobile Home Parks Act in 1976 in response to growing concern for the rights of the residents of mobile home parks. See Cider Barrel, 287 Md. 571, 414 A.2d 1246. In 1980, the legislature added § 8A-1702, providing a cause of action for park owners who had tenants who held over beyond the termination of the rental agreement. At the time § 1702 was enacted, neither § 202(a)(2) nor any similar provision existed to give certain tenants the right to demand or be offered a one-year lease. Thus, the Court of Appeals accurately pointed out in Cider Barrel: “[T]he [Mobile Home Parks] Act does not prevent a park owner from refusing to renew an expired lease----” 287 Md. at 581, 414 A.2d 1246. Without an obligation to renew, the park owner could refuse to renew a lease, thus making a tenant who remained on the premises beyond the lease expiration a holdover within the purview of § 8A-1702.

Finally, in 1985, the legislature amended the act by adding § 8A-202(c), giving certain qualified tenants the right to a continual renewal of their lease under certain circumstances. The General Assembly expressed its “Legislative Intent” in part as follows:

The intent of Senate Bill 869 is to require a mobile park owner to offer a renewal of the rental agreement for a one year period to a specified eligible resident, upon the expiration of an initial one year term, or at any time during a month-to-month term upon request of the resident. The intent is also to define the term “qualified resident”, to require a 6-month written notice of a lease termination resulting from land use change, and to require a written explanation as to why a resident is not a “qualified resident”.
[391]*391The purpose of Senate Bill 869 is to provide qualified mobile home owners some degree of protection from certain practices of certain mobile home park owners.

See the “Summary of Committee Report” of S.B. 869, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, dated March 21, 1985.

It is the apparent conflict between § 8A-1702 (the tenant holding over provision) and 202(c) (the new annual renewal provision) that provides the genesis of this controversy. Thus, the general rule of statutory construction that an appellate court may not ignore the clear language of a statute in order to effectuate what it perceives to be the legislative intent is inapplicable to the case sub judice. See Newman v. Subsequent Injury Fund, 311 Md. 721, 723, 537 A.2d 274 (1988) (“[WJhen we seek to ascertain and effectuate legislative intent, the primary source is the language of the statute itself.”) See also G. Heileman Brewing Co. v. Stroh Brewery Co., 308 Md. 746, 521 A.2d 1225 (1987). A court must construe an ambiguous statute so as to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the legislature expressed in the statute. See Kaczorowski v. City of Baltimore, 309 Md. 505, 513, 525 A.2d 628 (1987). As Judge William H. Adkins, II explained for the court in Kaczorowski:

[W]here a statute is plainly susceptible of more than one meaning and thus contains an ambiguity, courts consider not only the literal or usual meaning of the words, but their meaning and effect in light of the setting, the objectives and purpose of the enactment. State v. Fabritz, 276 Md. 416, 348 A.2d 275 (1975); Height v. State, 225 Md. 251, 170 A.2d 212 (1961). In such circumstances, the court, in seeking to ascertain legislative intent, may consider the consequences resulting from one meaning rather than another, and adopt that construction which avoids an illogical or unreasonable result, or one which is inconsistent with common sense.

[392]*392Id. at 513-14, 525 A.2d 628, citing Tucker v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 308 Md. 69, 75, 517 A.2d 730 (1986) (some citations omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
541 A.2d 659, 75 Md. App. 386, 1988 Md. App. LEXIS 111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marmion-v-mom-inc-mdctspecapp-1988.