[WSBARP] House built, blocks PC's view - practical recourse

Fri Jan 6 14:31:30 PST 2023

Colleagues - thank you all for your sage advice on this one, I greatly
appreciate it.

Have a great weekend.

Best,
Tom

On Fri, Jan 6, 2023 at 1:14 PM <Jeff at bellanddavispllc.com> wrote:

> I have had the same type of case as Paul and got the same result, the
> second floor comes off.  Did the HOA rules have an architect committee that
> had to approve the plans?  Violation of the HOA setback, let alone the
> County or City set back requirements is a problem.  Yet it seems those are
> forgotten in the “built over the line” cases.
>
>
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
> *W. Jeff Davis*
>
> *BELL & DAVIS PLLC*
>
> *Attorneys at Law*
> P.O. Box 510
>
> 720 E. Washington Street, Suite 105
> Sequim WA 98382
> Phone: (360) 683.1129
> Fax: (360) 683.1258
> email: jeff at bellanddavispllc.com
> www.bellanddavispllc.com
>
> The information contained in this e-mail message may be privileged,
> confidential, and protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended
> recipient, any dissemination, distribution, or copying is strictly
> prohibited. If you think that you have received this e-mail message in
> error, please e-mail the sender at info at bellanddavispllc.com  or call
> 360.683.1129.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <
> wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> *On Behalf Of *Paul Neumiller
> *Sent:* Friday, January 6, 2023 1:07 PM
> *To:* WSBA Real Property Listserv <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [WSBARP] House built, blocks PC's view - practical recourse
>
>
>
> Tom, there are cases out there that say that if you give the neighbor
> notice early in the construction process, the neighbor is prohibited from
> arguing or presenting evidence of hardship.  But if your client waited too
> long and the house is built, the neighbor can whine loudly about the cost
> of reducing the height of a building or moving it back.  I had a case where
> the HOA sent a letter to the neighbor early in the construction process and
> said we would submit the letter to the court to demonstrate that he had
> notice.  Of course, the neighbor continued to build.  I was told by the
> litigators that the letter was pure gold and the judge proclaimed from the
> bench:  “Mr. {defendant}, you gambled and you lost.”  He had to remove the
> top three feet of his new house.  It didn’t help that he acted like a rich
> guy from the Big City who thought that he could bowl over the local
> yahoos.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> IMPORTANT NOTICE:  This e-mail message is intended to be received only by
> persons entitled to receive the confidential information it may contain.
> E-mail messages to clients of Paul A. Neumiller presumptively contain
> information that is confidential and legally privileged; e-mail messages to
> non-clients are normally confidential and may also be legally privileged.
> Please do not read, copy, forward or store this message unless you are the
> intended recipient of it. If you have received this message in error,
> please forward it back to the sender and delete it completely from your
> computer system.
>
>
>
> E-mail communication on the Internet may NOT be secure. There is a risk
> that this confidential communication may be intercepted illegally. There
> may also be a risk of waiving attorney-client and/or work-product
> privileges that may attach to this communication. DO NOT forward this
> message to a third party. If you have any questions regarding this notice,
> please contact the sender.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <
> wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> *On Behalf Of *Tom Lee
> *Sent:* Friday, January 6, 2023 12:37 PM
> *To:* WSBA Real Property Listserv <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>
> *Subject:* [WSBARP] House built, blocks PC's view - practical recourse
>
>
>
> Hello Braintrust,
>
>
>
> PC has a neighbor building a house which is only about 7 feet away from
> PC's property lot line. The covenants clearly state that the building
> setback must be 20 feet from all lot lines. Worse, Neighbor's home
> construction has completely blocked PC's view of the Columbia River - PC
> bought his house for the river view. PC feels the situation has devalued
> his house and property as a whole.
>
>
>
> Does anyone have practical legal advice on how to address this situation?
> Given the neighbor's house is already built, I am worried about just
> jumping into a lawsuit because I am wary about the court granting relief
> for what the PC probably wants, which is for the neighbor to tear down his
> house.
>
>
>
> Thoughts?
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Tom
>
>
>
> --
>
> *TOM LEE*
>
> Attorney
>
> *R. THOMAS LEE, PLLC* | Attorney and Counselor at Law | A Professional
> Limited Liability Company
>
> Direct: 425-219-6736
>
> rtl at rtleelaw.attorney | website: www.rtleelaw.attorney
>
> This E-Mail message and any documentation accompanying this transmission
> may contain *Attorney Work Product, privileged, and/or confidential
> information and is intended solely for the addressee(s) named above*.  If
> you are not the intended addressee/recipient, you are hereby notified that
> any use of, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance upon the
> contents of this E-Mail message and/or attached documentation is strictly
> prohibited and may result in legal action against you.  Please reply to the
> Sender advising the Sender of the error in transmission and immediately
> destroy the message and any accompanying documents.  Thank you.
> ***Disclaimer: Please note that RPPT listserv participation is not
> restricted to practicing attorneys and may include non-practicing
> attorneys, law students, professionals working in related fields, and
> others.***
>
> _______________________________________________
> WSBARP mailing list
> WSBARP at lists.wsbarppt.com
> http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/wsbarp
>

-- 

*TOM LEE*

Attorney

*R. THOMAS LEE, PLLC* | Attorney and Counselor at Law | A Professional
Limited Liability Company

Direct: 425-219-6736

rtl at rtleelaw.attorney | website: www.rtleelaw.attorney

This E-Mail message and any documentation accompanying this transmission
may contain *Attorney Work Product, privileged, and/or confidential
information and is intended solely for the addressee(s) named above*.  If
you are not the intended addressee/recipient, you are hereby notified that
any use of, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance upon the
contents of this E-Mail message and/or attached documentation is strictly
prohibited and may result in legal action against you.  Please reply to the
Sender advising the Sender of the error in transmission and immediately
destroy the message and any accompanying documents.  Thank you.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbarp/attachments/20230106/0020b867/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 8030 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbarp/attachments/20230106/0020b867/image001.jpg>