Please join us in welcoming Bria Wedgeworth! Bria is an attorney based in our Seattle office and will primarily be assisting with general counsel related matters. Prior to joining Barker Martin, Bria worked on the Legal Integration Support team at T-Mobile assisting with the upcoming merger with Sprint. Bria attended John Marshall Law School in Chicago where she competed in several moot court and dispute resolution competitions, and also had the chance to study abroad in Switzerland! We are very excited to have Bria as part of the Barker Martin team! read more

In Washington, there were several bills impacting collection of association assessments passed in the recent legislative session and signed by the governor that become effective July 28, 2019. read more

As the lead attorney in Barker Martin's Collections Department, I am often asked whether an Association is required to send an owner a delinquency notice letter before turning an account over to an attorney for collections. While there is a requirement under Washington and Oregon state law to send budget notices to all owners, the Association is not required under state law to send a delinquency notice letter to an owner before turning the account over to an attorney for collections. However, as you may have suspected, an Association's governing documents may require that a notice be sent to an owner prior to turning over their account for collections. For example, the Association's Rules and Regulations may provide that a "delinquency notice shall be sent" prior to sending an account to an attorney for collections. Please note, Oregon state law and/or an Association's particular governing documents require the Association to send notice to an owner before commencing a foreclosure lawsuit; however, this article is focusing on whether a delinquency notice letter must be sent to an owner by the Association prior to contacting an attorney to assist with recovering the owner's unpaid assessments. read more

In both Washington and Oregon, community associations that have lien rights for nonpayment of assessments have two options when considering foreclosing on units or lots: judicial or non-judicial foreclosure. Whether a foreclosure is judicial or non-judicial is significant as each have their own processes, procedures, and timelines for terminating the owner's ownership interest in the property. read more

The 9th Circuit United States Court of Appeals issued an opinion recently in Goudelock v. Sixty-01 Association of Apartment Owners holding that an owner's personal obligation to pay assessments that become due after the debtor has filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy are dischargeable under §1328(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. This means that if an owner receives a discharge in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case filed in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, or Nevada, that owner will no longer be personally obligated to pay any post-petition assessments. read more