Doe v. Fife Municipal Court

874 P.2d 182, 74 Wash. App. 444, 1994 Wash. App. LEXIS 242
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJune 2, 1994
DocketNo. 16203-2-II
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 874 P.2d 182 (Doe v. Fife Municipal Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe v. Fife Municipal Court, 874 P.2d 182, 74 Wash. App. 444, 1994 Wash. App. LEXIS 242 (Wash. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

Alexander, J.

John Doe, Jane Roe, John Roe, and Jane Doe (Does)1 appeal an order of the Pierce County Superior Court granting summary judgment to various courts of limited jurisdiction and governmental entities (Limited Courts), dismissing the Does’ claims against the Limited Courts for recovery of "court costs” the Does paid as a condition of deferred prosecution. We affirm.

The Does were charged in various Pierce County courts of limited jurisdiction with alcohol related criminal offenses.2 The Does separately petitioned the courts in which they were charged for consideration for a deferred prosecution program. See RCW 10.05.3 Their petitions were all granted, [447]*447each on the condition that the petitioner enter an alcohol treatment program and pay court costs. Their respective obligations for court costs ranged from $100 to $350. The Does each paid the court costs and entered alcohol treatment programs as a condition of the deferred prosecution. No appeals were taken from any of the orders granting their petitions for deferred prosecution and assessing court costs.4

The Does separately filed suit in Pierce County Superior Court against the Limited Courts seeking a refund of court costs and injunctive relief. They all moved to have their lawsuits proceed as a class action suit; however, a class has not yet been certified by court order.5

All of the Does’ lawsuits were consolidated for argument before a judge of the Pierce County Superior Court. The Does each alleged there that the imposition of court costs as a condition of deferred prosecution was not authorized by RCW 10.05 and, therefore, each of the courts of limited jurisdiction erred in assessing the costs. The Limited Courts all moved for a summary judgment of dismissal, asserting that they had implied authority to impose the costs and that, in any case, the Does’ claims were barred by the statute of limitations, collateral estoppel, res judicata, judicial immunity, and/or the failure of the Does to avail themselves of the remedy provided by CrRLJ 7.8.6

The trial court granted a summary judgment to the Limited Courts and dismissed the Does’ actions. In reaching its decision, the trial court took note of this court’s decision in State v. Friend, 59 Wn. App. 365, 797 P.2d 539 (1990), in [448]*448which we held that RCW 10.05 did not, at that time, authorize courts of limited jurisdiction to impose court costs on defendants who successfully petitioned for deferred prosecution.7 The trial court nevertheless concluded that the Does were barred from recovering the court costs in an independent suit against the Limited Courts because the Does had not appealed the orders granting their petitions for deferred prosecution or moved, pursuant to CrRLJ 7.8(b)(4), to vacate what they each now claim are void judgments. It also denied the Does’ request for injunctive relief, concluding that the Limited Courts were already on notice of our holding in Friend that assessment of court costs in deferred prosecutions was not authorized by statute. The Does each appealed to the Supreme Court. That court consolidated the appeals and transferred them to us for review.

The underlying issue on appeal is whether the Superior Court erred in granting summary judgment to the Limited Courts. We review summary judgment orders de novo and engage in the same inquiry as the trial court. Wilson v. Steinbach, 98 Wn.2d 434, 437, 656 P.2d 1030 (1982). Summary judgment is warranted if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. CR 56(c); Yakima Cy. (W. Vly.) Fire Protec. Dist. 12 v. Yakima, 122 Wn.2d 371, 381, 858 P.2d 245 (1993).

I

The Limited Courts contend, initially, that the Does’ lawsuit to recover court costs is, in reality, a collateral attack on the orders that the various courts of limited jurisdiction entered requiring payment of court costs as a condition of deferred prosecution and is, thus, barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, bars a party from relitigating an issue that was already litigated and decided in a prior proceeding. The elements of issue preclusion are as follows:

[449]*449(1) identical issues; (2) a final judgment on the merits; (3) the party against whom the plea is asserted must have been a party to or in privity with a party to the prior adjudication; and (4) application of the doctrine must not work an injustice on the party against whom the doctrine is to be applied.
In addition, the issue to be precluded must have been actually litigated and necessarily determined in the prior action.

(Citations omitted.) Shoemaker v. Bremerton, 109 Wn.2d 504, 507-08, 745 P.2d 858 (1987) (quoting Malland v. Department of Retirement Sys., 103 Wn.2d 484, 489, 694 P.2d 16 (1985)).

The Does respond that the portions of the orders of the courts of limited jurisdiction requiring them to pay costs as a condition of deferred prosecution are void judgments and, as such, are subject to collateral attack. The Does correctly observe that a void judgment is always subject to collateral attack. Bresolin v. Morris, 86 Wn.2d 241, 245, 543 P.2d 325 (1975). We will, therefore, first address the issue of whether the portions of the various orders of the courts of limited jurisdiction assessing court costs against the Does are void judgments.

A judgment is considered void as opposed to merely erroneous when "the court lacks jurisdiction of the parties or the subject matter or lacks the inherent power to enter the particular order involved”. Bresolin, at 245. A void judgment must be vacated whenever the lack of jurisdiction comes to light. Mitchell v. Kitsap Cy., 59 Wn. App. 177, 180-81, 797 P.2d 516 (1990).

The critical question here is whether the judgment ordering payment of court costs was void or merely erroneous.8 As we have observed, if the judgments were void, then the Does are not collaterally estopped from maintaining an independent action to recover the costs. If, however, the judgments were merely erroneous, then the Does’ action could be barred by principles of collateral estoppel.

The Washington Supreme Court discussed the difference between a void judgment and an erroneous judgment in [450]*450some detail in Dike v. Dike,

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Bluebook (online)
874 P.2d 182, 74 Wash. App. 444, 1994 Wash. App. LEXIS 242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-v-fife-municipal-court-washctapp-1994.