Court Opinion

ID: 9541570
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:26:45.139025+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:03:44.556773
License: Public Domain

DE MUNIZ, P. J.,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority. I write separately to explain my reasons for doing so.
I agree with plaintiff that ORS 701.035 et seq. is a statutory scheme designed to protect consumers from unscrupulous builders. See Parsons v. Henry, 65 Or App 627, 629, 672 P2d 717 (1983) (this statutory scheme “is essentially a consumer Act designed primarily to protect the public from irresponsible builders”). Defendant is a large developer, not the type of “consumer” the legislature had in mind when it created those statutes. In fact, the relationship between plaintiff and defendant seems much more like a joint venture, again most likely not a relationship contemplated by the statutes. However, under the statutory construction methodology we are bound to follow, the text of ORS 701.065 (1995) has a “plain meaning,” and we must give effect to the statute as written. See generally PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or 606, 610-12, 859 P2d 1143 (1993). The *188majority is correct that plaintiff failed to comply with that statute.
I also believe that plaintiffs assertion that the development was done in stages and consists, in fact, of separate projects might be a viable one to avoid the harsh results of the statute’s application. However, I do not find plaintiffs to have developed this theory sufficiently for judicial review or, stated more basically, to have presented this theory in a posture necessary to give rise to a question of fact about the parties’ intent.