Birchler v. Castello Land Co., Inc.

942 P.2d 968
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 17, 1997
Docket64548-5
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 942 P.2d 968 (Birchler v. Castello Land Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Birchler v. Castello Land Co., Inc., 942 P.2d 968 (Wash. 1997).

Opinion

942 P.2d 968 (1997)
133 Wash.2d 106

Martin BIRCHLER, a single man; and Judith Wilson, a single woman; and Dean B. Lang and Darlene Lang, husband and wife, and the marital community composed thereof, Respondents,
v.
CASTELLO LAND COMPANY, INC., a Washington corporation; and J.R. Hayes & Sons, Inc., a Washington corporation, Petitioners.

No. 64548-5.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

August 21, 1997.
As Amended September 17, 1997.

*969 Karr, Tuttle & Campbell, Steven D. Robinson, Seattle, for Petitioner.

James Austin Doros, Seattle, for Respondent.

Nicholas P. Gellert, Seattle, Amicus Curiae on behalf of Puget Sound Energy.

TALMADGE, Justice.

Castello Land Company (Castello) and J.R. Hayes & Sons, Inc. (Hayes), destroyed the trees and vegetation of various homeowners, and were found liable by the jury at trial for damages, which were trebled by the trial court pursuant to RCW 64.12.030. The jury also awarded emotional distress damages of $2,000 to each of the homeowners. Castello and Hayes now contend emotional distress damages cannot be recovered in a statutory action for injury to trees and shrubs because the plaintiffs must elect either statutory or common law remedies. We hold emotional distress damages, if proved, may be recovered in an action under RCW 64.12.030, and no election of remedies is necessary. We affirm the judgment on the verdict of the jury.

ISSUE

Are emotional distress damages recoverable in a timber trespass action under RCW 64.12.030?

FACTS

During the late summer of 1990, Castello hired Hayes to grade and fill Castello's undeveloped ravine, which abutted property belonging to the respondents, Birchler, Lang, and Wilson (the homeowners). Despite blueprints showing the proper boundaries of the respective properties, Hayes' personnel at the jobsite intentionally encroached on Wilson's property during the grading and filling operation, resulting in the removal of vegetation, destruction of her fence, and the placement and grading of fill. To make the grading consistent, Hayes later encroached on the properties of Birchler and the Langs to a similar extent.

The homeowners sued Castello and Hayes for violation of RCW 64.12.030, common law trespass, and violation of the Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19.86. The homeowners sought general damages in tort, including emotional distress damages, and did not allege a distinct claim for emotional distress. The trial court dismissed the RCW 19.86 claims on summary judgment and the homeowners did not pursue their common law trespass claims. Neither of these claims is at issue in this appeal. The homeowners' sole theory for recovery at trial was RCW 64.12.030.[1]

Castello and Hayes moved at the beginning of the trial to strike the homeowners' request for emotional distress damages on the ground that such damages are not recoverable in a statutory timber trespass action. The trial court denied the motion. The case went to trial in January 1995. Employing special verdict forms for each homeowner, the jury found Birchler, Wilson, and the Langs had suffered $17,000, $17,000, and $13,250 in damages, respectively. Moreover, in each case, the jury concluded Castello and Hayes had failed to prove the trespass was not casual or involuntary; the jury also found *970 that they willfully or wantonly removed the homeowners' trees and shrubbery, a prerequisite for the trebling of damages.[2] Thus, in each case, the judgment on the verdict was for three times the amount of damages the jury found, a total of $141,750. In a segregated portion of the verdict form, the jury also found Castello and Hayes had caused the homeowners emotional distress, and awarded each respondent $2,000 damages. The trial court did not treble the emotional distress damages.[3]

Castello and Hayes appealed and the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment. Birchler v. Castello Land Co., Inc., 81 Wash. App. 603, 915 P.2d 564 (1996). Castello and Hayes sought review in this Court, which we granted, solely on the availability of emotional distress damages in a statutory timber trespass action.

ANALYSIS

RCW 64.12.030 creates a punitive damages remedy, trebling damages for injury to, or removal of, trees, timber, or shrubs, when a person trespasses on the land of another. This treble damage remedy is available when the trespass is "willful," because if the trespass is "casual or involuntary" or based on a mistaken belief of ownership of the land, treble damages are not available. RCW 64.12.040. As befits a penal statute, our decisions have interpreted this punitive damages provision narrowly. Grays Harbor County v. Bay City Lumber Co., 47 Wash.2d 879, 886, 289 P.2d 975 (1955); Bailey v. Hayden, 65 Wash. 57, 61, 117 P. 720 (1911). At the same time, our cases have been cognizant of the purpose of RCW 64.12.040: to punish trespassers, to prevent careless or intentional removal of trees and vegetation from property, and to roughly compensate landowners for their losses. Pearce v. G.R. Kirk Co., 92 Wash.2d 869, 602 P.2d 357 (1979); Guay v. Washington Natural Gas Co., 62 Wash.2d 473, 383 P.2d 296 (1963).

RCW 64.12.030 does not precisely articulate the damages that are subject to trebling, indicating only that punitive damages are available "[w]henever any person shall cut down, girdle or otherwise injure, or carry off any tree, timber or shrub ..." Our cases have generally confined the treble damages remedy to injury to, or removal of, vegetation, although the measure of damages has varied by the type of vegetation affected. In Sherrell v. Selfors, 73 Wash.App. 596, 602, 871 P.2d 168, review denied, 125 Wash.2d 1002, 886 P.2d 1134 (1994), the Court of Appeals undertook a compilation of the cases addressing the measure of damages in RCW 64.12.030 cases:

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942 P.2d 968, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/birchler-v-castello-land-co-inc-wash-1997.