Opinion ID: 6109716
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Application of the Restrictive Clause

Text: The parties rely on different canons of statutory construction recognized by this Court to advance their respective positions as to the restrictive clause's application. Sebastian relies on the series-qualifier canon, which provides that when there  is a straightforward, parallel construction that involves all nouns or verbs in a series, a prepositive or postpositive modifier normally applies to the entire series. Sullivan v. Abraham , 488 S.W.3d 294 , 297 (Tex. 2016). WCAD relies on the last-antecedent canon, which provides that a qualifying phrase in a statute or the Constitution must be confined to the words and phrases immediately preceding it to which it may, without impairing the meaning of the sentence, be applied. Id. The two canons are mutually exclusive and where either might reasonably apply, neither is by itself instructive in our understanding of this statute. Id. When necessary, we have in the past analyzed punctuation as a permissible indicator of meaning. See id. (citing ANTONIN SCALIA & BRYAN GARNER, READING LAW: THE INTERPRETATION OF LEGAL TEXTS 147 (2012) ). However, we see no reason here to undertake an exhaustive discourse on the legislative intent behind use of the oxford comma. We assume for the purpose of argument that the restrictive phrase attaches to each item in the series, including a determination of ownership, and we analyze the meaning of the phrase under that assumption.