Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

The company I work for has leased a building for 33 years. The owner of the building now states that it is unsafe and a danger to life and must be vacated. They base this on a structural engineering inspection done in 1998 and a more recent one in 2012. The 2012 inspection concurred with the 1998 inspection.

The issue is, that if the building has been unsafe since 1998, then haven�t the owners been putting our lives in danger for the past 15 years? I believe that would constitute negligence on the owner�s part in being willfully blind to the danger that has existed since the first structural inspection. It might be that their conscience bothered them to the extent that they ordered the second engineering inspection to verify the first, then at that point gave notice to vacate the building. The owners may have had no intent to hurt anyone, but I do not believe that relieves them of their responsibility of have knowingly been endangering everyone�s lives since 1998. They have just been fortunate that nothing has happened to cause injury or loss of life.

Is there any recourse that the current and/or previous employees have to hold the owners accountable for their actions?


Asked on 6/06/13, 9:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Matthew Johnson Johnson Legal Group, PLLC

If nothing has happened to you, then you have no injury with which to bring a lawsuit. If you had been injured because of the defect, you would have a case. The only recourse you would have is to report them and/or quit for your own safety.

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Answered on 6/06/13, 9:47 pm


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