We have all seen onerous and unfair language in contracts, waivers, releases, invoices, disclaimers, disclosures, notices. Sometimes it is in the dreaded "fine print." Sometimes it is in large bolded, underlined print. When one party challenges such language, we often hear the response: This is "industry standard." read more

Recently, the Division 1 Court of Appeals of Washington issued its opinion in the case of Viewcrest Condominium Association v. Robertson, 2016 WL 7470025 (December 27, 2016). The decision by the Court in Viewcrest will need to be considered when evaluating collection of delinquent condominium assessments in Washington. read more

Those of us in the Northwest were recently hit with the first round of winter snowstorms. My children are avid weather watchers (in hopes of future school closures), so I understand that we are in store for several more storms in the coming months. Winter snow and ice inevitably result in a host of insurance claims. Some of these are relatively predictable. Think auto accidents and trees falling. Fortunately, many of these weather related claims are covered under standard home and auto policies. Snow and ice also bring the risk of a claim that most of us are unprepared for, flood. read more

In part one of our three-part series on Tree Trouble, my colleague David Silver wrote about Timber Trespass. In this post, I'm going to discuss self-help. Self-help is the legal term that describes "taking the law into your own hands"—literally. In this context, it would include a property owner getting out their pruning shears or shovel and cutting or trimming parts of a neighbor's tree that infringe upon his or her property. You may be surprised to hear that in Washington, such conduct has been endorsed by the courts. read more

One aspect of real property law that I find interesting is how some of the nastiest legal disputes are between neighboring property owners. On one hand, it would seem incumbent upon neighbors to be friendly and cooperative to one another because they are forced to interact regularly. On the other hand, the likelihood, or at least opportunity, for disputes seems to increase proportionately the closer people live to one another. read more