Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Washington

Re: Neighbor's verbal harassment

You can go to District Court and ask for an anti-harassment order. An AH order is granted when the petitioner (you) alleges a history of conduct (more than one episode) that seriously harasses or annoys, and serves no useful purpose. You can look up the forms at courts.wa.gov; the forms contain the language.

You can't put up a fence without your landlord's written approval. If you own the place, you can do it.

AH orders are pieces of paper. This route is not going to change her behavior, and I would predict that when she is served she will go ask for her own AH order against you, and then each warring neighbor will be locked into their own orders, mutually and simultaneously.

Also - is it possible that your neighbor is having mental health issues? People who scream at their neighbors and have entitlement issues about who parks on the street could, possibly, have something else going on. Do you know her family? Can you learn if her behavior is just directed against you, or if others have noticed any irrationality in her interactions with them?

Not that it really matters, but if she's that irrational, you may not have to put up with this for ever, because somebody else is going to intervene.

AH orders are one of the very few areas of the law where I will ever suggest people do it themselves. Your mission is to demonstrate to the Court that you are a reasonable person and that your concerns regarding what is happening are reasonable. Give dates and times, don't reach conclusions, just the facts. (This shows you are reasonable).

Judges hate neighbor disputes. They cannot solve this sort of problem, but given these facts, this might be an appropriate resolution.

Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell