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Nutter Authors Article on Massachusetts’ Version of the ‘Chevron Deference’ in Banker & Tradesman
Print PDFMatt Connolly, Matt Snell, Sarah Turano-Flores, partners, and Joe Jannetty, an associate, in Nutter’s Real Estate Department, discussed the U.S. Supreme Court overruling the so-called “Chevron doctrine” and the implications that follow in Banker & Tradesman. In the article, “Why Massachusetts’ Version of ‘Chevron Deference’ Will Survive,” the authors noted that Massachusetts will likely not follow suit, as Massachusetts courts have used a similar deferential approach to Chevron under the SJC Goldberg v. Board of Health of Granby decision. They pointed out that Massachusetts courts are to give “substantial deference” to an agency’s interpretation of its statutory obligations when the statute does not speak directly to the question and the interpretation offered by the agency “may be reconciled with the governing legislation.”
Furthermore, the authors added, “Based on a review of cases in the same period, the SJC has deferred to an agency’s statutory interpretation under Goldberg at least 10 times. In fact, there has not been a case in this period when the SJC overturned an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute. In the limited instances when an agency’s interpretation was invalidated…the SJC found the applicable statute was unambiguous.”
