Opinion ID: 2831299
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: “Rescind” Trumps All?

Text: Second, the Court reasons that, by using the word “rescind,” the Legislature “intended Subchapter D’s cancellation-and-rescission remedy to also contemplate the common law element 3 Because the Nguyens did not recover under the DTPA, they could not seek an order under section 17.50(b)(3)— the provision at issue in Cruz. See Cruz, 364 S.W .3d at 823. 6 of mutual restitution.” Ante at ___. I agree that, generally, we could presume that the Legislature knows and intends the common meaning of a word like “rescind,” but in construing this statute we “must give effect to every word, clause, and sentence” that the Legislature has used. In re Office of Attorney Gen., — S.W.3d at —, 2013 WL 854755, at  (emphasis added). Here, the Legislature stated that a purchaser is entitled “to cancel and rescind the executory contract and receive a full refund of all payments made to the seller.” TEX . PROP. CODE §§ 5.069(d)(2), 5.070(b)(2), 5.072(e)(2) (emphasis added). If the Legislature had intended that the purchaser be entitled only to “the common law element of mutual restitution,” ante at ___, then the Legislature should (and, I must conclude, would) have ended these statutory provisions after the reference to the “executory contract,” omitting the phrase “and receive a full refund of all payments made to the seller” completely. The Legislature did not omit that phrase, but the Court has done so for it. Because “every word or phrase in a statute is presumed to have been intentionally used with a meaning and a purpose,” In re Allen, 366 S.W.3d 696, 706 (Tex. 2012) (quoting State v. K.E.W., 315 S.W.3d 16, 21 (Tex. 2010)), we may not read that language out of this statute. See also Perkins v. State, 367 S.W.2d 140, 146 (Tex. 1963) (“[I]t is settled that every word in a statute is presumed to have been used for a purpose; and a cardinal rule of statutory construction is that each sentence, clause and word is to be given effect if reasonable and possible.”). In my view, the Legislature’s use of the word “rescind” does not give us license to ignore the rest of what the Legislature said.