Recent News

One of the most common issues that arises in disputes between neighbors are those involving trees. I previously wrote an article here regarding a property owner’s right to trim back both encroaching trees that physically stand entirely on another owner’s property, and boundary trees that stand on both properties at issue. When a tree that stands entirely… Read More

In Washington State, parties seeking damages related to breach of contract, often can recover interest on those damages pursuant to contractual provisions governing interest. Promissory notes, construction contracts, lease agreements, and many other types of contracts may specify an interest rate that accrues on a principal balance in the event of a default. Typically, the… Read More

In this webinar, Attorney Babak Shamsi discusses "Methods for Establishing an Easement" Read More

On October 14, the Washington Court of Appeals issued a published opinion in Reecer Creek Excavating, LLC v. SRI-Rochlin Constr. JV, LLC. This suit stemmed from a March 2020 excavation subcontract on a housing project in Ellensburg. The parties agreed to handle extra work on a time-and-materials basis, with written change-orders required. After a brief COVID… Read More

Easements are a non-ownership right to use or enjoy someone else’s land. I recently discussed the two major types of easements, appurtenant easements and easements in gross, in a blog post here. Parties can create easements in a variety of ways. Most easements are created by express grant – essentially a written agreement between parties on… Read More

An easement is a nonpossessory right to use or enjoy someone else’s land. In other words, an easement grants the holder a limited privilege to perform certain acts on someone else’s land without owning that land. It is a right to use, but not own (outright), the land owned by another. The party who enjoys… Read More

In April of this year, I published two blog posts here and here regarding the push for private real estate listings spearheaded by Compass Real Estate. In a nutshell, Washington State real estate brokerage firms have traditionally agreed to share all real estate property listings publicly through the multiple listing service. This policy is known as “Clear Cooperation.” The… Read More

In Washington, homeowners (and associations)[1] of newly constructed or substantially remodeled[2] residential projects[3] have a unique vehicle to sue builders.[4] Under the Construction Defect Claims Act (RCW 64.50), for up to six years homeowners can sue builders for damages arising from alleged construction defects. Homeowners often rely on these Defect Claims after the common one-… Read More

Washington has, for years, required the benefited owner (the party who uses the easement) and the burdened owner (the party whose land the easement is over) to agree in order to relocate the easement location on the burdened property.  Washington State courts explicitly considered a common approach used by many other states that allows the… Read More