Younker v. Investment Realty, Inc., 461 S.W.3d 1 (2015)

Citation: Younker v. Investment Realty, Inc., 461 S.W.3d 1 (2015)
Parent Document: Younker v. Investment Realty, Inc., 461 S.W.3d 1 (2015)
Jurisdiction: Missouri (state)
Effective Date: 2015-02-20
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5445505/younker-v-investment-realty-inc/ ↗

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“The primary rule of statutory construction requires the Court to ascertain the intent of the legislature, considering the words in their plain and ordinary meaning.” Union Elec. Co. v. Dir. of Revenue, 799 S.W.2d 78, 79 (Mo. banc 1990). Section 535.300 “was enacted for the protection of both the landlord and tenant, is conducive to the public good, [] provides the tenant his exclusive remedy for the wrongful withholding of a security deposit[,]” and is to be liberally construed to effect that purpose. Battis v. Hofmann, 832 S.W.2d 937, 940 (Mo.App.1992). Tenants’ argument in favor of an intended consumer protection, paternalistic view of section 535.300 is persuasive because section 535.300 only applies to residential tenancies and section 535.300 uses plain and ordinary language that indicates the legislature did not intend for the parties involved in such tenancies to contractually alter the application of its provisions.

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