Kyle Blackstone v. Dinesh Sharma Terrance Shanahan v. Seyed Marvastian Laura…

Summary

The Court held that the 2007 amendment to the Maryland Collection Agency Licensing Act did not require foreign statutory trusts holding defaulted mortgage loans to obtain collection-agency licenses before their substitute trustees initiated in rem foreclosure proceedings. Although the statutory language was ambiguous in this context, the legislative history, subsequent foreclosure legislation, and related statutory-trust provisions showed that the amendment was intended to regulate debt purchasers within the collection-agency industry, not mortgage-industry actors. The Court therefore reversed the dismissals of the foreclosure proceedings and remanded for further proceedings.