Tag:Washington

Haselwood v. Bremerton Ice Arena, Inc., 137 Wn. App. 872, 155 P.3d 952 (2007)

In this case, Division Two of the Washington Court of Appeals considered whether and to what extent a contractor has lien rights on a private building constructed on public property.  The City of Bremerton entered into a concession agreement with Bremerton Ice Arena, Inc. (“BIA”), under which BIA would construct an ice arena on city property and would own and operate the arena for a specified period of time.  After the expiration of that period of time, ownership of the arena improvements would transfer to the city. 

The excavation and drainage subcontractor on the project claimed it was unpaid for a portion of its work, and filed a lien the project.

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Moen Co. v. Island Steel, 128 Wash. 2d 745, 912 P.2d 472 (1996)

Here, a general contractor, Moen, who had settled with an employee of the subcontractor, Island, injured in an accident at a construction worksite sought contractual indemnification from the subcontractor pursuant to RCW 4.24.115.  The principle issues in this case were:  (1) whether the contractor could enforce its indemnification agreement in which the subcontractor waived its employer immunity under RCW Title 51 and which purports to shift liability to the extent of the subcontractor’s negligence (despite RCW 4.22.070 which adopts several liability in tort cases), and (2) to what extent the subcontractor was liable to contractor, if at all. Read More

Absher Constr. Co. v. Kent Sch. Dist., 77 Wash. App. 137, 890 P.2d 1071 (1995)

In this case, a contractor and subcontractors brought action against a school district for breach of public contract for the construction of an elementary school.  Subcontractor Emerald was hired to work on the school’s HVAC system for Chapman, to whom Absher had subcontracted mechanical work on the project.  Absher’s contract with the school district required all claims to be filed in writing with the district within 14 days of events giving rise to these claims.  Absher did not provide notice of Emerald’s claims until months after Emerald had completed all of its work.  The Superior Court, King County, entered summary judgment for the school district.  The contractor and subcontractors appealed. Read More

Brown v. Prime Constr. Co., 102 Wash. 2d 235, 684 P.2d 73 (1984)

In this negligence suit filed by an injured employee of a subcontractor against the general contractor, the latter filed a third-party indemnification claim against the subcontractor.  The case involved the validity of an indemnity provision in a contract between a general contractor and its subcontractor.  The Superior Court, King County, granted summary judgment, and on appeal, the Washington Supreme Court affirmed, holding, among other things, that the subcontractor’s indemnity clause did not clearly and specifically contain a waiver of immunity of the Workers’ Compensation Act.  Therefore, the indemnity clause was not enforceable to compel subcontractor to indemnify general contractor for damages paid to subcontractor’s employee who was injured on the job and sued general contractor for negligence.