Washington Code 8.25.075 – Costs — Award to condemnee or plaintiff — Conditions
Current as of: 2023 | Check for updates
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(1) A superior court having jurisdiction of a proceeding instituted by a condemnor to acquire real property shall award the condemnee costs including reasonable attorney fees and reasonable expert witness fees if:
Terms Used In Washington Code 8.25.075
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(a) There is a final adjudication that the condemnor cannot acquire the real property by condemnation; or
(b) The proceeding is abandoned by the condemnor.
(2) In effecting a settlement of any claim or proceeding in which a claimant seeks an award from an acquiring agency for the payment of compensation for the taking or damaging of real property for public use without just compensation having first been made to the owner, the attorney general or other attorney representing the acquiring agency may include in the settlement amount, when appropriate, costs incurred by the claimant, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and reasonable expert witness fees.
(3) A superior court rendering a judgment for the plaintiff awarding compensation for the taking or damaging of real property for public use without just compensation having first been made to the owner shall award or allow to such plaintiff costs including reasonable attorney fees and reasonable expert witness fees, but only if the judgment awarded to the plaintiff as a result of trial exceeds by ten percent or more the highest written offer of settlement submitted by the acquiring agency to the plaintiff at least thirty days prior to trial.
(4) Reasonable attorney fees and expert witness fees as authorized in this section shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (4) of RCW 8.25.070 as now or hereafter amended.