Northwest Real Estate Law Blog : Northwest Real Estate Lawyer & Attorney : Davis Wright Tremaine Law Firm : Land Use, Development, Commercial Property : Seattle, Portland, Alaska, Washington, Oregon

Authored by: Monique Hawthorne

Back in October of 2010, Henry Gifford filed a class action lawsuit against the US Green Building Counsel (USGBC), which is the non-profit responsible for administering LEED certification for buildings and homes. Mr. Gifford alleged several issues including that the USGBC fraudulently represented the performance of LEED buildings, that it participated in false advertising, and that it operated to monopolize green building standards. Somewhere buried in the complaint, he also let on that he was really mad at the USGBC because he lost clients and business opportunities because he was not LEED accredited. When I first heard about the lawsuit, my reaction was “oh brother, really?!” Doesn’t Mr. Gifford know how the USGBC revolutionized green building in the U.S.? Show a little respect! Can you really accuse the USGBC of fraud? Okay, you can accuse them, but can you prove it?

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Authored by:  Clayton Graham and Jim Greenfield

Many Seattle landlords and other building owners will soon need to begin reporting on the energy efficiency of their buildings. As reported in DWT’s Northwest Real Estate Blog last year, a Seattle ordinance passed in connection with the state’s Efficiency First! Act requires many Seattle building owners to provide “energy benchmarking reports” to the Director of the Department of Planning & Development using the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager or a similar system. 

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Authored by:  Clayton Graham

As in many states, it has long been the law in Washington that a party in open, notorious, “hostile” possession of another’s land for a certain period of time (generally 10 years) might become the owner of that land, so long as the party can establish facts that meet the common-law test for adverse possession. In a development of interest to anyone who may become a party to such a suit, the Washington legislature recently amended provisions of the Revised Code of Washington (Chapter 7.28, RCW) containing procedural requirements for these lawsuits.

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Authored by: Gene Grant

As published in the Daily Journal of Commerce

Hang onto your hat, because the legislative winds are blowing! Here is a brief summary and my personal opinions on some of the bills in the hopper that relate to real estate.

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Authored by:  Lauren Giles, Kerry Shea, and Clayton Graham

Findings recently issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could be the first step in national regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act. Although the findings apply only to new motor vehicles and engines for the time being, they lay the groundwork for regulating GHGs emitted by power plants and manufacturing facilities.

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Legislation was passed in 2007 regarding Condo's and Homeowner Associations in Oregon. If you deal in those areas, you will find interesting the articles linked below:

www.dwtrealestatelawnw.com/DJC Reprint Legal Ease 5.24.07(2).pdf

www.dwtrealestatelawnw.com/DJC Reprint Legal Ease 5.25.07(1).pdf

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Rain is free, right? And nobody cares about that rainbarrel I have out back, right?



Well, maybe. Washington State has a prior appropriation water code that provides that “all water above, upon, or beneath the surface of the earth” is public ground water subject to potential water right permit requirements. RCW 43.27A.020: Definitions

See also, http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=90.03.010.



An unanswered question has been whether the collection of rainwater in residential rainbarrels or in larger stormwater management systems, among other methods, requires a water rights permit from the Department of Ecology. A new initiative by Ecology seeks to answer these questions. The direction being pursued by Ecology makes most residential rainbarrels exempt from permit requirements. Larger catchment systems likely will be treated differently though, and probably will wind up needing some type of water right permit. Opportunities to shape the direction of the new rules through public comment are coming up soon, via public hearings to be held by Ecology in June. For hearing schedules and more information, visit here.

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