[WSBARP] Cause of action and measure of damages for intentional interference with pipe easement

[Eric Nelsen]

Client has an express easement for water line over neighbor's property, and the neighbor intentionally prevents its use by destroying the pipe. Client elects to just relocate the pipe to avoid dealing with the neighbor. The cost to relocate is likely lower than cost of litigation, not to mention the bonus avoidance of future bad behavior which is highly likely given the neighbor's volatility and ongoing pattern of harassment over several years.

Can the client sue the neighbor for damages for interference with the express easement, with measure of damages being the cost to relocate the pipe? If so, what's the cause of action? Does quiet title still work for a damages-only claim in this scenario? The "damages" statutes in Ch. 7.28 RCW appear to contemplate mainly a case where plaintiff wins adverse possession but defendant has constructed improvements on the property now possessed by plaintiff. Obviously that's not the case here.

Tortious destruction of property works for damage to the existing pipe, but cost to repair would likely be different, and lower than, cost to relocate. (The client's problem is that having the work done on the neighbor's property would be an ordeal, given the neighbor's behavior.) I'd love to get treble damages under RCW 4.24.630 but I think there is case law indicating that the statute doesn't apply when the damage is done on one's own property, even when it's damage to property owned by a neighbor and lawfully present due to an easement. Am I wrong I hope?

But aside from the destruction of property, this is also interference with the legal right under the easement, basically rendering it impossible as a practical matter for client to peaceably use the easement. What damages can compensate for that? Could the cost to relocate the pipe to a different location, be argued as the measure of the value of the easement itself?

Is there a potential problem with client "voluntarily" deciding to relocate the pipe? Obviously it could be construed as abandoning the easement, but does it also potentially bar a remedy for interference with the easement?

Sincerely,

Eric

Eric C. Nelsen
Sayre Law Offices, PLLC
1417 31st Ave South
Seattle WA 98144-3909
206-625-0092
eric at sayrelawoffices.com<mailto:eric at sayrelawoffices.com>

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