Hayes v. City of Seattle

• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: ALEXANDER; DURHAM; MADSEN; GUY; TALMADGE
• Citation: Hayes v. City of Seattle, 131 Wn.2d 706, 934 P.2d 1179 (Wash. 1997)
• Decision Date: 17 April 1997
• Docket Number: No. 62820-3
• Parties: Michael HAYES, Respondent, v. CITY OF SEATTLE, Petitioner.

Page 706

131 Wn.2d 706

934 P.2d 1179

Michael HAYES, Respondent, v. CITY OF SEATTLE, Petitioner.

No. 62820-3.

Supreme Court of Washington En Banc.

Argued Oct. 26, 1995.

Decided April 17, 1997.

Robin L. Rivett, Pacific Legal Foundation, Sacramento, CA, Groen & Stephens, John M. Groen, Bellevue, for Amicus Curiae on Behalf of Pacific Legal Foundation.

Mark Sidran, Seattle City Atty., Robert D. Tobin, Asst., Seattle, for Petitioner.

Richard B. Sanders, Bellevue, for Respondent.

ALEXANDER, Justice.

The City of Seattle obtained review of a decision of the Court of Appeals affirming the Superior Court's grant of a summary judgment in favor of Michael Hayes and against Seattle. We affirm the Court of Appeals, albeit for reasons that differ from those given by that court, concluding that the Superior Court correctly determined that Hayes should be awarded damages pursuant to RCW 64.40 for arbitrary and capricious action of the Seattle City Council.

In November 1987, Michael Hayes applied to Seattle's Department of Construction and Land Use (DCLU) for a master use permit in order to allow Hayes to remove an existing single family residence from a lot that he owned and to replace it with a three story, mixed use apartment building. Hayes indicated in his permit application that he intended to construct a building on his lot that would be 80-feet long and 40-feet wide. The lot, which was zoned "Neighborhood Commercial," was contiguous to land that was zoned for single family residences. On July 10, 1989, the DCLU approved Hayes's application for a master use permit.

A homeowner who lived near the subject property appealed the DCLU's decision. A hearing examiner for Seattle affirmed the DCLU. The neighboring homeowner then appealed the examiner's decision to the Seattle City Council. On December 18, 1989, the Council adopted all of the hearing examiner's findings, except for the finding that the height, bulk and scale of Hayes's building would produce "no materially adverse edge impact." Clerk's Papers at 398, 347. It approved issuance of the permit, subject, however, to the condition that the proposed building be no more than 65-feet in length. The Council did not explain why it added the restriction on length, other than to indicate that "[p]ermitting a building 80' in length and 40' in width will clearly leave bulk and scale impacts insufficiently mitigated." ¹ Clerk's Papers at 92.

Hayes timely filed a "complaint" in King County Superior Court for judicial review of the Council's action. In this action, ² he sought to overturn the decision of the Council and reinstate the hearing examiner's decision, contending that the Council had acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it conditioned approval of his application for the master use permit on a reduction in size of the proposed building. Upon review, the Superior Court ruled that the findings of the Council were "conclusory" and remanded the matter to the Council with instructions to "identify, if any, the specific adverse impacts of the bulk of this project, and to further identify the manner in which the proposed condition would mitigate any such identified adverse impacts." Clerk's Papers at 101-02.

On November 26, 1990, slightly more than three years after Hayes initially applied to Seattle for the master use permit, the Seattle City Council reconsidered its earlier decision. Without explanation, it affirmed the DCLU's approval of Hayes's request for a permit, thereby allowing him to construct a building on his property that was 80-feet long and 40-feet wide.

Thirty days after the Council rendered its decision, Hayes commenced the action in King County Superior Court that led to this appeal. He claimed in this second action that he was entitled to damages, costs and attorney fees, pursuant to the provisions of RCW 64.40.020, ³ asserting that the Seattle City Council had "arbitrarily, capriciously and/or unlawfully conditioned" approval of his master use permit on a reduction in the size of the proposed building. Clerk's Papers at 202. Hayes also sought damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and attorney fees under § 1988, for what he claimed was the Seattle City Council's violation of his civil rights.

Hayes moved for summary judgment relying on RCW 64.40, as well as 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988. The Superior Court, relying strictly on RCW 64.40, granted his motion and awarded him damages against Seattle in the amount of $18,609.33, together with $1,302.65 for prejudgment interest and a reasonable attorney fee of $24,048.82. The latter amount included $5,621.50 in expert witness fees.

The Court of Appeals, Division One, affirmed the trial court, despite holding that Hayes's claim for damages under RCW 64.40 was barred by the statute of limitations. It concluded, however, that Hayes was entitled to damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. It also affirmed the award of reasonable attorney fees, but held that Hayes was not entitled to recover any amount for fees he had paid to expert witnesses.

In reviewing a decision of the Court of Appeals affirming an order of summary judgment, we engage in the same inquiry as the trial court. This requires us to consider the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. In re Estates of Hibbard, 118 Wash.2d 737, 744, 826 P.2d 690 (1992). Summary judgment should be granted only when it can be said there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. CR 56(c); Hibbard, 118 Wash.2d at 744, 826 P.2d 690.

I

We first address Seattle's contention that Hayes's action for damages, on either of the theories he presented to the trial court, is barred by the principle of res judicata. In that regard, Seattle contends, as it did at the trial court and at the Court of Appeals, that because Hayes's action for damages was not joined with his earlier filed action for judicial review that was based on the same transaction, Hayes should have been precluded from pursuing damages in the subsequent action.

The purpose of the doctrine of res judicata is to ensure the finality of judgments. Under this doctrine, a subsequent action is barred when it is identical with a previous action in four respects: (1) same subject matter; (2) same cause of action; (3) same persons and parties; and (4) same quality of the persons for or against whom the claim is made. Norco Constr., Inc. v. King County, 106 Wash.2d 290, 293, 721 P.2d 511 (1986). Factors three and four are met here because Hayes and Seattle are the only parties to both actions. Our focus, therefore, is on whether the subject matter of the suits is identical and whether the causes of action are the same.

We are satisfied that the two lawsuits with which we are here concerned do not involve the same subject matter simply because they both arise out of the same set of facts. Indeed, in Mellor v. Chamberlin, 100 Wash.2d 643, 673 P.2d 610 (1983), a case in which a single real estate transaction produced two lawsuits, we so held. In the first of those lawsuits, a buyer of land contended that the seller had misrepresented the extent of the property included in the sale. That lawsuit was settled and an order of dismissal with prejudice was thereafter entered. Shortly thereafter, the buyer brought a second lawsuit claiming that the seller breached a covenant of warranty. The buyer prevailed in that action on the theory that an adjoining landowner's encroachment onto the property breached the seller's warranty of quiet and peaceful possession. On appeal, the seller contended that the issue in the second lawsuit should have been raised in the first and, because it was not, the second lawsuit was barred by res judicata. In ruling against the sellers, we held that "[a]lthough both lawsuits arose out of the same transaction (sale of property), their subject matter differed" and the second suit was therefore not barred by res judicata. Mellor, 100 Wash.2d at 646, 673 P.2d 610.

While there is a dearth of case law defining when the subject matter of cases differs, one noted authority has observed that when courts examine subject matter "[t]he critical factors seem to be the nature of the claim or cause of action and the nature of the parties." Philip A. Trautman, Claim and Issue Preclusion in Civil Litigation in Washington, 60 W ASH.L.REV. 805, 812-13 (1985). Examining the two actions that were brought by Hayes in that light, we are satisfied that they do not deal with the same subject matter. We reach that conclusion because the nature of the two claims is entirely disparate. The action for judicial review focused exclusively on the propriety of the decision making process of the Seattle City Council. On the other hand, the subsequent action was for a judgment for money to compensate Hayes for the damages he allegedly suffered as a result of the Council's action.

In deciding whether two causes of action are the same we are to consider the following four factors:

(1) [W]hether rights or interests established in the prior judgment would be destroyed or impaired by prosecution of the second action; (2) whether substantially the same evidence is presented in the two actions; (3) whether the two suits involve infringement of the same right; and (4) whether the two suits arise out of the same transactional nucleus of facts.

Rains v. State, 100 Wash.2d 660, 664, 674 P.2d 165 (1983) (quoting Costantini v. Trans World Airlines, 681 F.2d 1199, 1201-02 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1087, 103 S.Ct. 570, 74 L.Ed.2d 932 (1982)). After reviewing these factors, we are convinced that Hayes's action for judicial review and his subsequent action for damages are separate. In the action for judicial review, Hayes essentially sought to overturn a decision of the Seattle City Council. In order to succeed in that lawsuit, Hayes needed only to establish that the Seattle City Council's action met one of the...