Opinion ID: 2422541
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Statute and Applicable Principles of Construction

Text: TOPA provides in pertinent part that before the owner of a housing accommodation may sell the accommodation, he or she is required to give the tenant an opportunity to purchase the accommodation at a price and [on] terms which represent a bona fide offer of sale. D.C.Code § 42-3404.02(a) (2008). At the time these suits were brought, [TOPA] did not explicitly define sale. Rather, it left the meaning of the term to courts to determine, except that it specifically `included' some transactions within the scope of the term. Waterside, 2 A.3d at 1085 (footnote omitted); see also discussion in Part II, p. 6, supra. [13] As we have noted in our discussion of the associations' standing, TOPA is a remedial statute, and it is to be generously construed toward the end of strengthening the legal rights of tenants or tenant organization to the maximum extent permitted under law. D.C.Code § 42-3405.11 (2008). In particular, as the Supreme Court explained almost a century ago in a different but relevant context, the courts will not permit themselves to be blinded . . . by mere forms . . . but, regardless of fictions, will the substance of the transaction . . . as the justice of the case may require. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co. v. Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Ass'n, 247 U.S. 490, 501, 38 S.Ct. 553, 62 L.Ed. 1229 (1918). More recently, we have reiterated that [c]ourts deal with the substance rather than the form of transactions and will not permit important legislative policies to be defeated by artifices affecting legal title but not the practical consequences of the existing situation. EDM & Assocs., Inc. v. GEM Cellular, 597 A.2d 384, 389 (D.C.1991) (quoting United States v. Beach Assocs., Inc., 286 F.Supp. 801, 807 (D.Md.1968)); accord, Tenants of 1255 New Hampshire Ave., N.W. v. District of Columbia Rental Hous. Comm'n, 647 A.2d 70, 76-77 (D.C.1994). Specifically in reference to determining whether a transfer is a sale within the meaning of TOPA, we have stated that the court must look to the true nature of the transaction. Wallasey Tenants Ass'n v. Varner, 892 A.2d 1135, 1141 (D.C.2006). Moreover, we are of the opinion that TOPA, like other remedial statutory and constitutional provisions, forecloses sophisticated as well as simple-minded modes of nullification or evasion. Goodman v. District of Columbia Rental Hous. Comm'n, 573 A.2d 1293, 1297 (D.C.1990) (citation omitted); see also Lane v. Wilson, 307 U.S. 268, 275, 59 S.Ct. 872, 83 L.Ed. 1281 (1939). We approach these appeals with the foregoing principles in mind.