Carter v. Welles-Bowen Realty, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
736 F.3d 722 (6th Cir. 2013)
RESPA permitted certain real-estate referral fees only if three statutory safe-harbor conditions were met, and HUD later added a fourth safe-harbor condition through a policy statement; customers (plaintiffs) referred by realty company Welles-Bowen (defendant) to an affiliated title company sued, arguing Welles-Bowen failed to satisfy that fourth, HUD-created condition. The district court ruled for Welles-Bowen, the customers appealed, and HUD intervened arguing its policy statement was entitled to Chevron deference as a reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute.
Whether an ambiguous statute imposing both civil and criminal penalties for the same conduct should be interpreted under Chevron deference to an implementing agency's interpretation, or under the rule of lenity favoring the regulated party.