RQ-0262-KP

Re

The Manufactured Housing Division of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs administers the Manufactured Homeowner Consumer Claims Program ("Program"), provided for in Occupations Code chapter 1201, which provides relief to certain consumers of a manufactured housing licensee. In establishing damages for the consumers, subsection 1201.405(e) provides that the director of the Program shall make an independent inquiry into the amount of damages actually incurred, "unless the damages have been previously established through a contested trial." A court would likely conclude that neither an arbitration nor a judicial confirmation of an arbitration judgment is a "contested trial" within the scope of subsection 1201.405(e).

Subsection 1201.404(a) limits payments from the Program to violations of specified rules or statutes. Even were a judicially confirmed arbitration award to constitute a contested trial under subsection 1201.405(e), an arbitration judgment cannot bind the Program for payment of a claim that is outside the statutory limits of the Program. However, such an award could serve as supporting evidence for the director to consider in determining actual damages for a claim within the scope of the Program.