Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Washington

Re: Work done for friend

Well, as usual, it just depends.

My first question is: when was the small claims trial? When, exactly, did the judge order the defendants to pay the judgment? If it was more than 30 days ago, the judgment is final and the defendant has failed to perfect his appeal. The defendant can tell you he's going to appeal until the end of time, and tell you that he'll win and you'll have to pay fees, but if his appeal is not timely he loses, end of story.

If it has been less than 30 days, and your son is going off to a RALJ appeal (to superior court) then it is going to be a little trickier.

Your son has the theory called "law of the case" on his side. That means that a lower court judge made a decision, and when it is appealed, the question becomes whether or not the lower court judge abused his discretion or not.

-BUT-

A superior court judge knows that an unlicensed contractor cannot sue for the value of their work.

So, the question becomes does your son need to be a licensed contractor? Chances are the answer to that question is yes, and whether or not the work he was doing was "structural" is irrelevant. You might want to review the Contractor's Registration Act. I think it is in title 19 (possibly 18).

The sooner your son gets a license, a bond and insurance the sooner he will stop risking working for free. Its a hard lesson. His family circumstances, however difficult, have nothing to do with it.

If you need more help don't hesitate to ask. Collecting judgments is a completely different issue.

Hope this helps. Powell