On May 31, 2020, Governor Jay Inslee issued his latest amendment to the “Stay Home – Stay Healthy” order.  The Governor originally issued his “Stay Home” order  on March 23, 2020.  Prior to May 31, the Governor amended the order three times, on April 2, 2020, April 27, 2020 and May 4, 5020.  Each of the prior amendments extended the “Stay Home” deadline, amended and/or refined the personal and business activities that were exempt from the “Stay Home” requirement, and...Read More

• David Tingstad and Tom Over (from Vine Dahlen) speak, Q & A-style, about PPP loans.

In nearly all circumstances, an easement entitles its holder to make only limited use of another’s land.  The default rule in Washington as in most jurisdictions is that even when an owner’s land (legally known as the “servient tenement” or commonly referred to as the “burdened property”) is encumbered by an easement in favor of another’s land (legally known as the “dominant tenement” or commonly referred to as the “benefitted property”), the burdened property owner may still make all uses of that owner’s property which do not “unreasonably interfere” with the rights of the party benefitted...Read More

Beresford Booth has actively monitored the latest developments in the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) along with the process by which PPP loans will be forgiven.  Last week, I gave a webinar discussing PPP loan forgiveness and its various aspects.  It can be found here.

In addition to this presentation, I recently found a helpful website for calculating your PPP loan forgiveness.  The website can be found here under “Featured Resource.”

On Thursday, May 27, I will host another webinar where I will be joined by CPA Thomas Over,...Read More

• Part 1 - David Tingstad speaks about the latest information on SBA PPP Loans and Forgiveness.
  • .pdf download of David Tingstad's presentation

• Part 2 - Andrew McKenzie addresses the ramifications of Seattle's COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium.

Over the past week, Washington has continued to progress quickly through the “Safe Start Washington” phased re-opening plan.  Entering this week, the state had granted early entry variances to ten low density counties to enter Phase 2.  Those counties included Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Skamania, Stevens, Wahkiakum and Whitman counties.  That left a majority of Washington’s counties in Phase 1 and, for the most part, ineligible to apply for a variance for early entry to Phase 2.  But on May 19, 2020, Governor Inslee and State Secretary of Health...Read More

Seattle has long had a reputation for tenant-friendly regulations.  In the wake of COVID-19, starting in March 2020, Seattle took several actions culminating in a lengthy moratorium on certain evictions.   On May 6, 2020, Mayor Durkan signed into law a bill unanimously passed by the Seattle City Council (full text here: https://seattle.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4427723&GUID=0651D7FC-E708-40E6-8AFA-090008E8C4A4&FullText=1), known as Ordinance 126075, which extends eviction protections to tenants long past the statewide eviction moratorium’s current expiration date of June 4, 2020.  Under Ordinance 126075, a tenant in Seattle has a defense to an unlawful detainer action (eviction) until 6 months after the Mayor’s eviction moratorium...Read More

Countless private individuals and small and medium-sized business leaders are querying the legal basis of Washington Governor Inslee’s Emergency Orders now that epidemiological experts agree we have “flattened the curve.”  The suspicion over partisan political motives has increased exponentially with the Washington Department of Health (DoH) data showing this particular coronavirus, a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) flu, has caused 1,000 deaths in Washington State, i.e., 0.01 percent of the Washington population of 7,615,000.  Inslee’s critics further reference Washington DoH data showing the 2009...Read More

King County has provided funding to the Historic South Downtown Community Preservation & Development Authority (HSD), an agency created by the State of Washington to promote and preserve Seattle’s Pioneer Square and International District Neighborhoods.  The HSD will issue grants to nonprofit organizations that provide programming and services, or that provide direct support to small businesses, in these neighborhoods.

The HSD will release up to $475,000 funds through approximately June 26, 2020 in order to stabilize the operations of local nonprofits and small businesses located in the Pioneer Square and International District Neighborhoods.  The closing...Read More

Recently, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released a new application for businesses to apply for loan forgiveness if they received a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan.  The application is helpful as it provides insight as to how forgiveness will be calculated.  You can find the application here.

However, many business owners still hold questions regarding how loan forgiveness applies specifically to their situation.  Beresford Booth’s upcoming webinar will discuss this more and in greater depth.  You may register here.

At Beresford Booth, we continue to monitor the...Read More