Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team v. Junction City Lots 1 Through 12 Inclusive, Block 35

424 P.3d 1226, 191 Wash. 2d 654
Washington Supreme Court·Decided September 6, 2018·No. 95013-0·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

YU, J.

*1229 *657 ¶ 1 This case involves Washington's civil forfeiture statute and the scope of the attorney fees provision where the claimant is the substantially prevailing party. The forfeiture statute allows law enforcement agencies to seize and take ownership of property that has a sufficient factual nexus to certain controlled substance violations. RCW 69.50.505. However, if someone claims the property and law enforcement cannot prove that forfeiture is authorized, then the claimant is entitled to have the property returned and to receive "reasonable attorneys' fees reasonably incurred by the claimant." Id. at (6). We are presented with two issues of first impression regarding this attorney fees provision.

¶ 2 First, we are asked who qualifies as a "claimant" when the property at issue is owned by a corporation. We hold that in such a case, a corporate shareholder who did not file any claim in the forfeiture case is not a claimant and therefore cannot recover attorney fees pursuant to the statute's plain language. We thus affirm the Court of Appeals in part.

¶ 3 Second, we must decide whether a substantially prevailing claimant's fee award is strictly limited to fees incurred in the forfeiture proceeding itself. The answer is no. The plain language of RCW 69.50.505(6) gives courts discretion to award the claimant attorney fees from a related criminal case if the fees were reasonably incurred for the primary purpose of resisting civil forfeiture. We *658 therefore reverse the Court of Appeals in part and remand to the trial court to enter a corrected fee award consistent with this opinion.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 4 Beginning in 2007, the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET) became suspicious that brothers Steven and Timothy Fager 1 were growing and distributing marijuana from a commercial building at 115 Freeman Lane in Port Townsend. OPNET officers conducted surveillance and, in 2009, obtained a warrant for a thermal image search, based on allegations that they could smell marijuana from the street and that the smell was coming from the 115 Freeman Lane building.

¶ 5 Based on the results of the thermal image search, OPNET obtained a search warrant for the 115 Freeman Lane building and "discovered a large, sophisticated, indoor marijuana growing operation." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 19. The next day, the Fagers were each charged with one count of manufacturing marijuana and one count of possession with intent to deliver marijuana. The criminal cases against the Fagers were consolidated.

¶ 6 On the same day that the criminal charges were filed, OPNET, the Clallam County sheriff, and Clallam County brought this civil forfeiture case against the two parcels of real property on which the 115 Freeman Lane building is located. One parcel belongs to Steven and the other belongs to a corporation, Discovery Bay Village Wellness Collective (DBVWC). 2 Steven is the president and registered agent for DBVWC, and the Fagers are both shareholders.

¶ 7 Jeffrey Steinborn timely entered a notice of appearance in the forfeiture case as "Attorney for Claimant *659 Steven Fager." Id. at 31. In January 2010, the parties entered an agreed order staying the forfeiture case pending the outcome of the consolidated criminal cases, which took several more years to resolve. *1230 ¶ 8 In their criminal cases, the Fagers moved to suppress the evidence OPNET obtained from searching the 115 Freeman Lane building. After a lengthy hearing, the trial court granted the motion, crediting unrebutted expert testimony "that it would have been impossible for the officers to smell the marijuana" from the distance at which they claimed to smell it. Id. at 80. The court also determined that the officers' statements "demonstrate[d] a reckless disregard for the truth" and must be suppressed. Id. at 81.

¶ 9 Without those statements, there was no probable cause for the search warrant, and the court therefore suppressed "[a]ll evidence procured as a result." Id. at 84. The trial court then dismissed the criminal cases with prejudice, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Fager, No. 44454-2-II, 2015 WL 563081 (Wash. Ct. App. Feb. 10, 2015) (unpublished), http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/D2% 2044454-2-II% 20% 20Unpublished% 200pinion.pdf. The State did not seek further review, and the mandate issued on April 8, 2015.

¶ 10 Two and a half weeks later, James R. Dixon entered a notice of appearance in the forfeiture proceeding as "Substitution Counsel for Steve Fager." CP at 46. That same day, "Steven Fager and the Discovery Bay Village Wellness Collective" moved for summary judgment. Id. at 52. OPNET did not respond. Instead, OPNET released its lis pendens and filed a motion for voluntary dismissal pursuant to CR 41(a)(1)(B). The parties agreed that voluntary dismissal should be granted and that the summary judgment motion was moot. However, OPNET would not stipulate to a dismissal that included any attorney fee award, so Steven filed a separate motion for attorney fees.

¶ 11 The trial court dismissed the forfeiture case and awarded the Fagers the attorney fees incurred in the forfeiture case, as well as some of the fees incurred in the *660 Fagers' criminal cases. The Fagers did not request, and the court did not award, all of their criminal defense fees, however. Instead, the court awarded fees only "where the primary purpose behind the incurred fees was to prevent the forfeiture." Id. at 540. On OPNET's request for clarification, the court confirmed that it was awarding fees to both Steven and Timothy because Timothy is "a part owner of DBVWC, Inc." Excerpt of Proceedings of Audio Verbatim Tr. (Aug. 5, 2015) (RP) at 67.

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Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team v. Junction City Lots 1 Through 12 Inclusive, Block 35, 424 P.3d 1226, 191 Wash. 2d 654 (Wash. 2018).

424 P.3d 1226 (Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team v. Junction City Lots 1 Through 12 Inclusive, Block 35) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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