Burke v. Oxford House of Oregon Chapter V

• Decision Date: 29 December 2004
• Citation: 103 P.3d 1184,196 Or. App. 726
• Parties: Kyra BURKE, Respondent, v. OXFORD HOUSE OF OREGON CHAPTER V, an unincorporated association, Oxford House-Ramona, an unincorporated association, and Oxford House, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Appellants.
• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals

103 P.3d 1184

196 Or. App. 726

Kyra BURKE, Respondent, v. OXFORD HOUSE OF OREGON CHAPTER V, an unincorporated association, Oxford House-Ramona, an unincorporated association, and Oxford House, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Appellants.

0105-05394; A119933.

Court of Appeals of Oregon, En Banc.

Argued and Submitted March 8, 2004.

Resubmitted September 22, 2004.

Decided December 29, 2004.

Frank Wall, Portland, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellants.

Edward Johnson argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Mark Passannante, Broer & Passannante, P. S., and Oregon Law Center.

Before BREWER, Chief Judge, and EDMONDS, LANDAU, HASELTON, ARMSTRONG, LINDER, SCHUMAN, WOLLHEIM, and ORTEGA, Judges, and DEITS, Judge pro tempore.

Resubmitted En Banc September 22, 2004.

ARMSTRONG, 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 P.2d 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 co-residents found her in violation of an Oxford House rule prohibiting disruptive behavior. They evicted her from the house with fifteen minutes notice, and she complied. She subsequently brought an action against defendants, claiming 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 plaintiff's 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 "[r]esidence 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 part. 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 ("[t]ransient 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 somewhere other than the property at issue and that short-term housing should not be subject to ORLTA. The remainder of the exclusions exempt arrangements where the primary relationship between the parties is something other than a traditional residential landlord-tenant relationship.

In the latter category of exemptions, the legislature has recognized that the encouragement of the underlying, primary relationship is more important than the protection of tenants. For example, ORS 90.110(2) recognizes that it is often necessary in real estate sale agreements for either the seller or buyer of real property to possess the property for a period of time while legal title is in the hands of the other party. Thus, the legislature exempted those arrangements from ORLTA to avoid burdening real estate transactions with the requirements of the act. ORS 90.110(7) recognizes that the relationship of employer and employee is the predominant relationship in situations in which an employee lives and works on the employer's property. It reflects that by exempting the landlord-tenant relationship from most aspects of ORLTA.

The same principle applies to the exemptions in ORS 90.110(1) and (3). Both subsections describe relationships in which the primary relationship between the parties is the relationship that is described in the subsections rather than the landlord-tenant relationship that the parties also share.

For example, the relationship between a fraternity member who lives on fraternity property and his fraternity is primary to the landlord-tenant relationship that exists between them by the fact of his residence. But for his membership in the fraternity, he would not be a tenant of the fraternity. With ORS 90.110(3), the legislature chose to subordinate the landlord-tenant relationship to the membership relationship so that, if an individual's membership is terminated, the fraternity can demand that he vacate their premises without compliance with the strictures of ORLTA.

Similarly, the relationship between a hospital and its patients is primary to the landlord-tenant relationship, as is the relationship between a nursing home or a college dormitory and its residents. ORS 90.110(1) makes clear that changes in the primary relationships should not be burdened by ORLTA. If a college student drops out of classes, the college should not be required to allow him to remain in his dorm room for 30 days. Nor should a hospital be required to give a patient 30 days' notice to vacate her room after the hospital has decided to discharge her. Thus, both ORS 90.110(1) and (3) create exemptions from ORLTA for housing where the primary relationship between the parties is something other than the traditional residential landlord-tenant relationship.

It is with that understanding in mind that we must construe the language of ORS 90.110(1) and (3) and apply it to the facts of the case before us. The proper interpretation of those provisions is that they exclude defendants from ORLTA.

We start with ORS 90.110(3), which excludes from ORLTA "[o]ccupancy by a member of a fraternal or social organization in the portion of a structure operated for the benefit of the organization." Applying the legislature's intent when it excluded fraternal and social organizations reveals that defendants are both fraternal and social organizations.² Although the legislature did not define either "fraternal" or "social," it...