Title 7 — Title 7 SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS AND ACTIONS

When, upon indictment or information, complaint or action, any person is adjudged guilty of a nuisance, if it be in superior court the court may in addition to the fine imposed, if any, or to the judgment for damages or costs, for which a separate execution may issue, order that …

Instead of issuing such warrant, the court may order the same to be stayed upon motion of the defendant, and upon his or her entering into a bond in such sum and with such surety as the court may direct to the state, conditioned either that the defendant will discontinue said nui…

The expense of abating a nuisance, by virtue of a warrant, can be collected by the officer in the same manner as damages and costs are collected on execution, except that the materials of any buildings, fences, or other things that may be removed as a nuisance, may be first levie…

The legislature finds that agricultural activities conducted on farmland and forest practices in urbanizing areas are often subjected to nuisance lawsuits, and that such suits encourage and even force the premature removal of the lands from agricultural uses and timber production…

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, agricultural activities conducted on farmland and forest practices, if consistent with good agricultural and forest practices and established prior to surrounding nonagricultural and nonforestry activities, are presumed to …

For the purposes of RCW 7.48.305 only:(1) "Agricultural activity" means a condition or activity which occurs on a farm in connection with the commercial production of farm products and includes, but is not limited to, marketed produce at roadside stands or farm markets; noise; od…

(1) A farmer who prevails in any action, claim, or counterclaim alleging that agricultural activity on a farm constitutes a nuisance may recover the full costs and expenses determined by a court to have been reasonably incurred by the farmer as a result of the action, claim, or c…

A state or local agency required to investigate a complaint alleging agricultural activity on a farm is in violation of specified laws, rules, or ordinances and where such activity is not found to be in violation of such specified laws, rules, or ordinances may recover its full i…

(1) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.(a) "Firearm industry member" means a person engaged in the wholesale or retail sale, manufacturing, distribution, importing, or marketing of a firearm industry prod…

If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.[ 1979 c 122 s 4.]

The definitions set forth in this section shall apply throughout this chapter.(1) "Knowledge" or "knowledge of such nuisance" means having knowledge of the contents and character of the patently offensive sexual or violent conduct which appears in the lewd matter, or knowledge of…

The following are declared to be moral nuisances:(1) Any and every place in the state where lewd films are publicly exhibited as a regular course of business, or possessed for the purpose of such exhibition, or where lewd live performances are publicly exhibited as a regular cour…

Any of the following parties may bring a civil action in the superior court of any county where a moral nuisance is alleged to have been maintained:(1) The prosecuting attorney for the county where the alleged moral nuisance is located;(2) The city attorney for the city where the…

(1) No person shall with knowledge maintain a moral nuisance.(2) Upon a determination that a defendant has with knowledge maintained a moral nuisance, the court shall impose a civil fine and judgment of an amount as the court shall determine to be appropriate. In imposing the civ…

All civil fines assessed under RCW 7.48A.040 shall be paid into the general treasury of the governmental unit commencing the civil action.[ 1985 c 235 s 2; 1982 c 184 s 5.]Notes:Severability—1985 c 235: See note following RCW 7.48A.040.

Nothing in this chapter applies to the circulation of any material by any recognized historical society or museum, any library of any college or university, or to any archive or library under the supervision and control of the state, county, municipality, or other political subdi…

The legislature finds that actions against moral nuisances as declared in RCW 7.48A.020 (1) through (4) involve balancing the safeguards necessary to protect constitutionally protected speech and the community and law enforcement efforts to curb dissemination of obscene matters. …

After the plaintiff files a civil action under this chapter, the plaintiff may apply to the superior court in which the plaintiff filed the action for a temporary or preliminary injunction. The court shall grant a hearing within ten days after the plaintiff applies for a temporar…

After the plaintiff applies for a temporary or preliminary injunction, the court may, upon a showing of good cause, issue an ex parte restraining order restraining the defendant and all other persons from removing or in any manner interfering with the personal property and conten…

A bond or security shall not be required of the city attorney, the prosecuting attorney, or the attorney general.[ 1989 c 70 s 4.]

A copy of the complaint, together with a notice of the time and place of the hearing on the application for a temporary injunction, shall be served upon the defendant at least three business days before the hearing. Service may also be made by posting the required documents in th…

If the court finds at the hearing for an injunction, that the accounting, inventory, personal property, and contents of the place alleged to be a nuisance provide evidence of a moral nuisance as defined by RCW 7.48A.020 (1) through (4), the court may order the defendant to produc…

The hearing on the injunction shall have precedence over all other actions, except prior matters of the same character, criminal proceedings, election contests, hearings on temporary restraining orders and injunctions, and actions to forfeit vehicles used in violation of the unif…

An intentional violation of a restraining order, preliminary injunction, or injunction under this chapter is punishable as a contempt of court.[ 1989 c 70 s 8.]

When several persons hold and are in possession of real property as tenants in common, in which one or more of them have an estate of inheritance, or for life or years, an action may be maintained by one or more of such persons, for a partition thereof, according to the respectiv…

The interest of all persons in the property shall be set forth in the complaint specifically and particularly as far as known to the plaintiff, and if one or more of the parties, or the share or quantity of interest of any of the parties be unknown to the plaintiff, or be uncerta…

The plaintiff may, at his or her option, make creditors having a lien upon the property or any portion thereof, other than by a judgment or decree, defendants in the suit. When the lien is upon an undivided interest or estate of any of the parties, such lien, if a partition be ma…

The notice shall be directed by name to all the tenants in common, who are known, and in the same manner to all lien creditors who are made parties to the suit, and generally to all persons unknown, having or claiming an interest or estate in the property.[Code 1881 s 555; 1877 p…

If a party, having a share or interest in, or lien upon the property, be unknown, or either of the known parties reside out of the state or cannot be found therein, and such fact be made to appear by affidavit, the notice may be served by publication, as in ordinary cases. When s…

The defendant shall set forth in his or her answer, the nature, and extent of his or her interest in the property, and if he or she be a lien creditor, how such lien was created, the amount of the debt secured thereby and remaining due, and whether such debt is secured in any oth…

The rights of the several parties, plaintiffs as well as defendants, may be put in issue, tried and determined in such suit, and where a defendant fails to answer, or where a sale of the property is necessary, the title shall be ascertained by proof to the satisfaction of the cou…

If it be alleged in the complaint and established by evidence, or if it appear by the evidence without such allegation in the complaint, to the satisfaction of the court, that the property or any part of it, is so situated that partition cannot be made without great prejudice to …

In making the partition, the referees shall divide the property, and allot the several portions thereof to the respective parties, quality and quantity relatively considered, according to the respective rights of the parties as determined by the court, designating the several por…

The court may confirm or set aside the report in whole or in part, and if necessary, appoint new referees. Upon the report being confirmed a decree shall be entered that such partition be effectual forever, which decree shall be binding and conclusive:(1) On all parties named the…

Such decree and partition shall not affect any tenants for years or for life, of the whole of the property which is the subject of partition, nor shall such decree and partition preclude any persons, except such as are specified in RCW 7.52.100, from claiming title to the propert…

The expenses of the referees, including those of a surveyor and his or her assistants, when employed, shall be ascertained and allowed by the court, and the amount thereof, together with the fees allowed by law to the referees, shall be paid by the plaintiff and may be allowed as…

If the referees report to the court that the property, of which partition shall have been decreed, or any separate portion thereof is so situated that a partition thereof cannot be made without great prejudice to the owners, and the court is satisfied that such report is correct,…

When a part of the property only is ordered to be sold, if there be an estate for life or years in an undivided share of the property, the whole of such estate may be set off in any part of the property not ordered sold.[Code 1881 s 565; 1877 p 119 s 570; 1869 p 136 s 518; RRS s …

Before making an order of sale, if lien creditors, other than those by judgment or decree, have not been made parties, the court, on motion of either party, shall order the plaintiff to file a supplemental complaint, making such creditors defendants.[Code 1881 s 566; 1877 p 119 s…

If an order of sale be made before the distribution of the proceeds thereof, the plaintiff shall produce to the court the certificate of the clerk of the county where the property is situated, showing the liens remaining unsatisfied, if any, by judgment or decree upon the propert…

If it appear by such certificate or reference, in case the certificate is not produced, that any such liens exist, the court shall appoint a referee to ascertain what amount remains due thereon or secured thereby respectively, and the order of priority in which they are entitled …

The plaintiff must cause a notice to be served at least twenty days before the time for appearance on each person having such lien by judgment or decree, to appear before the referee at a specified time and place to make proof by his or her own affidavit or otherwise, of the true…

The referee shall receive the evidence and report the names of the creditors whose liens are established, the amounts due thereon, or secured thereby, and their priority respectively, and whether contingent or absolute. He or she shall attach to his or her report the proof of ser…

The report of the referee may be excepted to by either party to the suit, or to the proceedings before the referee, in like manner and with like effect as in ordinary cases. If a lien creditor be absent from the state, or his or her residence therein be unknown, and that fact app…

If the report of the referee be confirmed, the order of confirmation is binding and conclusive upon all parties to the suit, and upon the lien creditors who have been duly served with the notice to appear before the referee, as provided in RCW 7.52.180.[Code 1881 s 572; 1877 p 12…

The proceeds of the sale of the encumbered property shall be distributed by the decree of the court, as follows:(1) To pay its just proportion of the general costs of the suit.(2) To pay the costs of the reference.(3) To satisfy the several liens in their order of priority, by pa…

Whenever any party to the suit, who holds a lien upon the property or any part thereof, has other securities for the payment of the amount of such lien, the court may in its discretion, order such sureties to be exhausted before a distribution of the proceeds of sale, or may orde…

The proceedings to ascertain the amount of the liens, and to determine their priority as above provided, or those hereinafter authorized to determine the rights of parties to funds paid into court, shall not delay the sale, nor affect any other party, whose rights are not involve…

The proceeds of sale, and the securities taken by the referees, or any part thereof, shall be distributed by them to the persons entitled thereto, whenever the court so directs. But if no such direction be given, all such proceeds and securities shall be paid into court, or depos…

When the proceeds of sale of any shares or parcel belonging to persons who are parties to the suit and who are known, are paid into court, the suit may be continued as between such parties, for the determination of their respective claims thereto, which shall be ascertained and a…