Fairchild Heights, Inc. v. Dickal, 45 A.3d 627 (2012)

Citation: Fairchild Heights, Inc. v. Dickal, 45 A.3d 627 (2012)
Parent Document: Fairchild Heights, Inc. v. Dickal, 45 A.3d 627 (2012)
Jurisdiction: Connecticut (state)
Effective Date: 2012-06-26
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2295282/fairchild-heights-inc-v-dickal/ ↗

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At the outset, I observe that the majority's initial interpretation either fails to give any effect to the word "purpose" or effectively replaces it with the word "material," a term used nowhere in § 21-80a. "[W]e have long held that `[i]nterpreting a statute to render some of its language superfluous violates cardinal principles of statutory interpretation'"; Okeke v. Commissioner of Public Health, 304 Conn. 317, 328, 39 A.3d 1095 (2012); and, reading the term "purpose" out of this part of the statute cannot be reconciled with the legislature's use of the same term in another exception in § 21-80a (b)(1), "using the dwelling unit or the premises for an illegal purpose...." See Brennan v. Brennan Associates, 293 Conn. 60, 83, 977 A.2d 107 (2009) ("[it] is a familiar principle of statutory construction that [when] the same words are used in a statute two or more times they will ordinarily be given the same meaning in each instance" [internal quotation marks omitted]), quoting Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Dept. of Public Utility Control, 266 Conn. 108, 123, 830 A.2d 1121 (2003). Indeed, the majority makes no attempt to do so. Moreover, given that the term "material" is twice used in a directly related statute; see General Statutes § 21-80(b)(1)(B) and (C) (prescribing "[m]aterial noncompliance" ground for eviction);[3] see also General Statutes § 21-80a (b) (referring to § 21-80); we ordinarily would presume that the legislature intends a different meaning where it has used different terms relating to the same subject. Cf. Saunders v. Firtel, 293 Conn. 515, 527, 978 A.2d 487 (2009) ("when a statute, with reference to one subject contains a given provision, the omission of such provision from a similar statute concerning a related subject ... is significant to show that a different intention *640 existed" [internal quotation marks omitted]). Had the legislature intended the result the majority reaches, it readily could have stated "using the dwelling unit or the premises in material violation of the rental agreement" or even "using the dwelling unit or the premises in violation of ... § 21-80," which prescribes conditions for evicting mobile home park tenants. Therefore, it is improper either to fail to give independent meaning to the essential term "purpose" or to substitute the term "material."

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