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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Section 504B

Citation
Section 504B
Parent Document
Ellis v. Doe, 915 N.W.2d 24 (2018)
Jurisdiction
Minnesota (state)
Effective Date
2018-05-07

Full Text

829 chars
*28Minn. Stat. § 504B.385, subd. 3. An "action" is a "judicial proceeding whose purpose is to obtain relief at the hands of the court." American Heritage Dictionary 17 (4th ed. 2000). A "proceeding" is "the instituting or conducting of legal action." Id. at 1398. But a defense is not an action. Instead, a defense is "[t]he action of the defendant in opposition to complaints against him or her." Id. at 475-76. It is clear from the plain language of the statute that an action instituted by a tenant is different from a defense asserted by a tenant in response to an eviction action brought by a landlord. Therefore, tenant was not required to follow the procedures set forth in section 504B.385 before asserting a Fritz habitability defense because the statutory cause of action is independent of a Fritz habitability defense.