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Duncan K. Fobes and Daniel G. Lloyd won the jury trial of Watts v. Clallam County. Plaintiff had fallen in the parking lot outside the Clallam County courthouse, fracturing her patella. She and her husband claimed more than $400,000 in damages. Duncan and Dan first obtained orders in limine that excluded much of the evidence on which the plaintiffs intended to rely. The jury returned its unanimous defense verdict after only an hour of deliberations. As a result, the plaintiffs were awarded no damages. The plaintiffs did not appeal. … Duncan Fobes and William L. Cameron obtained summary judgment in Castro v. Stanwood School District. Duncan and Bill represented Edmonds School District and Lynnwood High School, which were dismissed from the action. Plaintiff suffered a broken jaw while playing high school soccer. A fight broke out during the game, in which an opposing player struck plaintiff. Duncan and Bill argued that Edmonds School breached no legal duty to its own team member, and the court agreed. … Joel E. Wright, Sam B. Franklin, and Bill Cameron won summary judgment in Goldberg v. Preszler, an accounting-malpractice case involving advice and accounting work dating back to 1970. Plaintiff's late husband had been diverting community assets to his separate property accounts, including a trust, beginning in 1970 and that a substantial amount of his estate was community property and belonged to his wife. The wife had sued the trust and recovered more than $1 million. This prompted the trust to sue the estate of the husband's accountant, alleging that the accountant had given bad accounting advice in 1970 when the diversion of funds began. Joel, Sam, and Bill moved for summary judgment, arguing that the trust had suffered no damage because the trust had been ordered to repay funds that were never the trust's money to begin with. They also argued that the statute of limitations had run on the accounting-malpractice claim. The court agreed and dismissed the action.

Sam Franklin and Matthew D. Taylor successfully defended a homeowner's association against a former member in Krasle v. Songaia. In that case, plaintiff contended that the homeowners had breached their agreement to allow him to build a greenhouse, and that as a result, plaintiff's rare and exotic plants, allegedly worth more than $100,000, died. On summary judgment, the court dismissed plaintiff's misrepresentation and Consumer Protection Act claims, as well as the individually named homeowner association defendants, leaving only a breach of contract claim against the Association. The action then went to trial, and at the close of plaintiff's case, the court granted defendant's motion to dismiss. … Jeffrey P. Downer won a pair of appeals. In Rubin v. Juanita Shores Condominium Assn., plaintiff, who owned a condo unit, sued the condominium board because he believed that the condominium was inadequately insured. The Court of Appeals agreed with Jeff that the condominium declarations governed, required less insurance than actually provided, and provided no basis for plaintiff's claim. In Horstman v. Costco Wholesale Corp., plaintiff slipped on wet concrete and broke his leg. The Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal because mere water on a floor is not an unreasonably dangerous condition.

The Lee Smart Quarterly is a publication of the law offices of Lee, Smart, Cook, Martin & Patterson, P.S., Inc. for clients and others. It is intended as general information only and is not to be construed as legal advice. You should consult an attorney if you have any specific legal questions.

Editor: Jeffrey P. Downer	Eml: jpd@leesmart.com
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