--- name: wa-law-references description: > Use when the user needs to cite, apply, or research Washington civil court practice law across any subject matter. Triggers include "CR 12", "CR 26", "CR 56", "CR 60", "CRLJ", "civil rules", "evidence rules", "hearsay exception", "business records", "authentication", "motion to compel", "summary judgment standard", "attorney fees", "prevailing party", "RCW 4.84", "sanctions", "fee-shifting", "GR 14", "Washington citation format", "KCLCR", "King County local rule". Covers statewide civil rules (CR / CRLJ), evidence rules, GR 14 citation format, RCW 4.84 fees-and-costs, local rules (King County Superior/District), general civil key cases, and canonical online-sources catalog. version: 0.5.1 --- # Washington Law References — General Civil Practice This skill is a matter-neutral reference index — a pointer to the statutes, rules, and doctrines most often invoked in Washington civil practice *across any subject matter*. The body below summarizes each source. Detailed sections, elements, and citation examples live in `references/`. > **NOT LEGAL ADVICE.** These notes are drafting aids, not legal > advice. Every citation should be verified against the current > RCW, current court rule, or current case law before it goes > into a filing. Use `wa-fact-check` before any packet is filed. ## How to use this skill Ask: *what is the user trying to establish procedurally?* - **A procedural motion** (compel, dismiss, strike, default, SJ, vacate) → start with `references/civil-rules.md` - **An evidentiary objection** (hearsay, authentication, best evidence, foundation) → start with `references/evidence-rules.md` - **A fee-and-cost request or objection** → start with `references/fees-and-costs.md` - **A local-rule question** (KCLCR for Superior; KCDCLCR for District) → start with `references/local-rules.md` - **Citation format** → `references/citation-format.md` - **Canonical URL or citation verification** → start with `references/online-sources.md` and hand off to `wa-fact-check` for per-filing verification - **Programmatic / structured lookup** (USC XML, eCFR API, CourtListener for cite-checking, bulk extraction, change detection) → `references/legal-data-apis.md`. Prefer the APIs listed there over HTML scraping when the result will be parsed - **A general civil case** (SJ standard, lodestar, default-vacation) → start with `references/key-cases.md` - **Subject-matter law** (FDCPA, Reg F, consumer protection, landlord-tenant, family, PI, criminal) → use the relevant subject-matter skill (e.g., `wa-consumer-debt` for debt collection) ## Washington civil rules Two parallel sets of rules: - **CR** — Civil Rules (Superior Court) - **CRLJ** — Civil Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (District and Municipal — includes KCDC) Key rules (both systems, unless noted): - **CR/CRLJ 11** — signing of pleadings; 21-day safe harbor for sanctions - **CR/CRLJ 12** — defenses and objections; motions to dismiss; response deadlines - **CR/CRLJ 26** — general discovery scope; proportionality; **CR 26(i) / CRLJ 26(f)**: conference of counsel before discovery motion - **CR/CRLJ 33, 34, 36, 37** — interrogatories, requests for production, requests for admission, motion to compel - **CR 55** — default; **CR 56** — summary judgment (superior court only; CRLJ does not have a direct SJ analogue) - **CR/CRLJ 6** — time computation; notice periods - **CR/CRLJ 60** — relief from judgment (vacation) Evidence Rules (**ER**) apply in both superior and district court. See `references/civil-rules.md` for rule-by-rule coverage and `references/evidence-rules.md` for ER 602/801–803/901–902/1002. ## Fees and costs **RCW 4.84** — the costs and fees chapter. Recovery mechanisms: - § 4.84.010 — prevailing-party costs - § 4.84.030 — prevailing defendant - § 4.84.080 — statutory attorney fee - § 4.84.185 — frivolous-actions fee - § 4.84.250–.300 — actions under $10,000 (attorney-fee recovery mechanism often critical in KCDC cases) - § 4.84.330 — reciprocal fee-shifting for one-sided contract clauses (*Mellor v. Chamberlin*) Rule-based fee-shifting: - **CR 37(a)(5)** / **CRLJ 37(a)(4)** — mandatory fee-shifting to the prevailing party on a motion to compel, unless one of the enumerated exceptions applies - **CR 11** — sanctions for frivolous or unsigned filings - **CR 68** — offer-of-judgment cost-shifting See `references/fees-and-costs.md` for full coverage, the lodestar method (*Bowers*), pro-se recovery limits, and pleading templates. ## Local rules Each superior court and district court maintains local rules layered on top of the statewide CR / CRLJ: - **KCLCR** — King County Local Rules (Superior Court): motion-practice rules, confirmation, working copies, remote hearings (KCLCR 43), summary judgment (KCLCR 56) - **KCDCLCR** — King County District Court Local Rules: clerk-issued date, e-filing deadlines, motion scheduling See `references/local-rules.md` for the full coverage, division variation, and the interaction with GR 14 statewide formatting. ## Citation format Washington uses the Washington Reporter of Decisions. Form for a Washington case citation: > *Smith v. Jones*, 123 Wn.2d 456, 789 P.2d 123 (1994) Federal citations follow Bluebook. See `references/citation-format.md` for patterns for Washington and federal citations, parallel cites, short-form references, and GR 14 compliance. ## Canonical online sources `references/online-sources.md` is the AI-agent-friendly catalog of canonical URLs for: - Washington court rules (courts.wa.gov) - RCW text (app.leg.wa.gov) - eCFR (for federal regulations) - Cornell LII (for U.S.C. sections) - CourtListener and Google Scholar (for case law) - KCSC and KCDC local procedural pages The catalog is the **only approved fetch source** for verification work. Per the plugin's safety policy, **WebFetch is the only mechanism used** — no curl, wget, Python requests, or other bypasses are permitted. See `wa-fact-check` for the per-filing verification workflow. ## Key general-civil cases `references/key-cases.md` catalogs the general-civil cases this plugin relies on most — SJ burden (*Young*), SJ non-movant favorable inferences (*Folsom*), reciprocal fee-shifting (*Mellor*), lodestar (*Bowers*), American rule baseline (*McCready*), CR 60 default-vacation (*Morin*, *White*). **Subject-matter cases** — FDCPA, CPA, business-records foundation in debt cases, chain-of-title — live alongside their subject-matter bundle (e.g., `wa-consumer-debt/references/key-cases.md`). ## Notes - These references are neutral summaries. They do not tell the user whether they win or lose. - Always **shepardize or KeyCite** a case before citing — Washington case law has evolved on several doctrines (business-records foundation, CR 60, fee-shifting scope). - For federal law, check the most recent Ninth Circuit opinion where controlling in federal court; WA state courts treat Ninth Circuit federal-statute interpretations as persuasive. - **Before filing**, run `wa-fact-check` against the packet to catch fabricated, misquoted, or superseded citations.