No settlement offer
Filipino Am. League v. Carino, 2014 Wash. App. LEXIS 2043, 2014 WL 4087413 (Wash. Ct. App. Aug. 19, 2014) RCW 4.84.290 and 4.84.250 require offer of settlement and notice as precondition to obtaining attorney fees. Court’s opinion: 140819-Filipino-v-Carino Court’s summary: Bjorgen, A.C.J. —Lucena Carino appeals an award of reasonable attorney fees to the Filipino American League (League) based on a Thurston County District Court small claims default judgment against her. The League sued Carino for misappropriating funds during her presidency of the organization. Carino failed to appear and the small claims department entered a default judgment against her. She unsuccessfully moved to vacate the default judgment, and the League unsuccessfully sought reasonable attorney fees for defending against her motion. Carino appealed the denial of her motion to vacate the default judgment to the superior court, and the League cross appealed the denial of fees. The superior court ultimately granted the League reasonable attorney fees for work on the appeal under RCW 4.84.290. Carino sought discretionary review by us, arguing that the League failed to comply with the prerequisites for invoking the fee-shifting scheme found in RCW 4.84.250-.290.1,2 The League, in its response, requested attorney fees for defending this review. We agree with Carino and reverse the superior court’s grant of reasonable attorney fees to the League under RCW 4.84.290 and deny the League’s request for reasonable attorney fees on discretionary review.