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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Carmen, this is an interesting post and certainly contra to my understanding of easement law in WA. You say that “I think the servient property owner [is] obligated to
pay removal fees as they were responsible for those…” What is the legal basis for your understanding that the servient tenement is responsible for a single dime of the installation costs of the dominant tenement using the easement (assuming the servient tenement
is not also using the easement area)? I’m afraid that “neighborly accommodation” of an owner granting an easement to a neighbor flies out the window if the servient neighbor is now “obligated” to contribute to the costs of installation. Living in a rural
community, these issues come up all of the time with landlocked parcels. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> wsbarp-bounces@lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbarp-bounces@lists.wsbarppt.com>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Carmen Rowe<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, March 5, 2019 12:22 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> WSBA Real Property Listserv <wsbarp@lists.wsbarppt.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [WSBARP] Logging trees in easement<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">In responding to Bryce's query about an easement holder who logged the trees necessary to use the easement - <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">I have a little different take than some of the comments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">First, I agree with those that said the timber trespass statute is inapplicable, as there is likely "lawful authority". The easement holder has the right to have the servient property
owner remove anything that interferes with the use of the easement. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">Second, I do think the better practice would have been for the easement holder to ask the servient property owner to remove the trees not "self-help".<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">That said - I diverge from some prior comments in that I think the servient property owner obligated to pay removal fees as they were responsible for those - they had to remove the trees
upon request so long as reasonably necessary for dominant easement holder to exercise easement rights. But give the servient owner the trees themselves, or if already sold, the proceeds, as they were his/her trees.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">In other words: I think the easement holder essentially stepped into the shoes of exercising the servient property owner's obligations, and the servient owner obligated to cover the costs
of exercising those obligations as he/she would have born them to begin with if they had done it themselves (as they would have had to do); but also entitled to what was theirs (the trees). Put another way: they are obligated/entitled to no more and no less
than if they had done the job themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">That is of course limited to the scenario Bryce confirmed, that no more trees were taken down than necessary to exercise easement rights. Anything beyond that would be a different analysis.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">Carmen Rowe, Attorney/Owner</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;color:#660000">Email:
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<b><span style="background:white">Mailing address: </span></b><span style="background:white">1673 S. Market Blvd. #202, Chehalis, WA 98532<br>
<b>Olympia/Lacey office: </b>1415 College Street SE, Lacey, WA 98503</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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