Late last week, the Washington Supreme court issued a split opinion in Surowiecki v Hat Island that means good news for good boards (and great news for my partner, Jeremy Stilwell, and our client!) In the landmark case, the court adopted a standard by which community association board decisions are judged that should provide good board members with some peace of mind read more

Our general counsel group often gets questions from clients about their Association's authority to deal with roads in their communities. Whether the question is about speed limits, parking, towing, or just improving the roadway, the question always requires us to make a number of determinations before being able to answer the question. Following these steps and trying to determine the answers to these questions before contacting counsel may even help communities resolve the ultimate issue with little legal intervention (and less expense!). read more

Hey everyone, as we slide into these last few weeks of 2020, there are few things that we will miss about this year. But as bad as it has been, we were very lucky to have so many of you as clients and others as community manager partners in our joint representation of community associations. So first, we wanted to say a big thanks from all of us at Barker Martin for making our 2020 quite positive in that respect. And for keeping us busy! And speaking of busy, we are so excited to announce that Samantha Brown has joined our general counsel group! read more

WSCAI Made for Managers Day is Tuesday, September 29, 2020 from 8:30a to 3:15p and will be a virtual event! There will be multiple different classes offered throughout the day on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to, best practices and tips for planning and running an efficient Board meeting, guidance on how to enforce the association's governing documents, and a chance to ask questions and get advice from a panel of PCAMs. read more

Hey everyone, it's Double Blog Day! We are getting a lot of COVID-19 related questions and a lot is happening at the state level, so we decided to double up this week. Some of the questions we are getting are about whether communities should be amending their governing documents to fit the realities of social distancing or quarantine, including amendments to change the date of the annual meeting, allow video meetings, electronic notice, or electronic voting. Cutting to the chase, the answer is PROBABLY NOT. read more