§ 16.5 - Attorney Fees
Jurisdiction | Washington |
Awards of attorney fees in land use actions are discussed below.
(1) RCW 4.84.370
Adopted in 1995, RCW 4.84.370 provides that a prevailing party or a substantially prevailing party shall be entitled to the recovery of attorney fees if that party prevailed in an appeal before the Court of Appeals or the state Supreme Court of a local government decision concerning a development permit and if the prevailing party also prevailed before the local government and in all prior judicial proceedings. RCW 4.84.370(1). A local government is a prevailing party if its decision is upheld at superior court and on appeal. RCW 4.84.370(2).
This provision applies to the appeal of "a decision by a county, city, or town to issue, condition, or deny a development permit involving a site-specific rezone, zoning, plat, conditional use, variance, shoreline permit, building permit, site plan, or similar land use approval or decision." RCW 4.84.370(1). Of all the various fee-shifting statutes in the state of Washington, RCW 4.84.370 is the only statute intended to deter appeals.
The court has clarified the scope of this provision to only allow the recovery of attorney fees on appeal. Baker v. Tri-Mountain Res., Inc.,94 Wn. App. 849, 973 P.2d 1078, 1081 (1999). Moreover, attorney fees are allowed on appeal only when the challenged decision "is upheld at superior court and on appeal." RCW 4.84.370(2).
The divisions of the Court of Appeals are split as to whether a party who prevails on procedural grounds (e.g., for lack of timeliness, failure to exhaust, and failure to join proper...
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