Facts: Petitioner Paul Lawson was charged by the respondent city of Pasco’s Code Enforcement Board with violating Pasco Municipal Code §25.40.060, which prohibits recreational vehicles from occupying lots in mobile home parks. After being directed to evict tenants owning recreational vehicles occupying lots in the mobile home park he owns, Lawson appealed to the Superior Court for Franklin County, which ruled that §25.40.060 violates Article XI §10 of the Washington State Constitution insofar as it is preempted by Washington Revised Code §59.20, which regulates landlord-tenant relations in mobile home parks. The city of Pasco appealed to the Washington Court of Appeals, which reversed the superior court’s decision. Lawson appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Washington.
Question(s): Does §59.20 preempt municipal ordinances such as §25.40.060 by occupying the field and allowing no concurrent regulation?
If not, is there an irreconcilable conflict between §25.40.060 and §59.20?
Conclusion: Justice Charles W. Johnson’s opinion for the Court concluded that §59.20 was not intended to occupy the field as it expressly contemplates various local regulations of mobile home tenancy and as its purposes of preserving mobile home communities for low income residents and advancing the safety and maintenance concerns unique to mobile homes are furthered by §25.40.060 insofar as it reserves parks exclusively for mobile and manufactured homes. The Court also held that no irreconcilable conflict exists between §25.40.060 and §59.20 as although §59.20 regulates rights and duties arising from tenancies that may include recreational vehicle tenancies, this does not necessarily authorize recreational vehicle tenancies complying with its requirements in mobile home parks.
Docket No. 81636-1 (from Court of Appeals Division III Case No. 25967-6)
Petitioner: Paul Lawson
(Counsel: Philip Albert Talmadge)
Respondent: City of Pasco
(Counsel: Leland Barrett Kerr and Vicki L. Mitchell)
Briefs:
Argument: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 3:00pm
[Source: TVW, http://tvw.org]
Audio: Washington Supreme Court
Decided: Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Prevailing Party: City of Pasco (Respondent)
Vote: 5-4
Citation: Pending
Court: Madsen1 Court (2010-)
Alexander
Johnson
(Majority)
Madsen
(Concurs)
Sanders
(Dissent)
Chambers
Owens
Fairhurst
(Dissent)
Johnson
Stephens
Note: We post only slip opinion(s) as published at the time of the decision. Please consult Washington Reports printed volumes for the opinion(s) in their final form. Each opinion should appear next to the Justice who authored it.