Opinion ID: 2585381
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Statutory Transfer

Text: The instant case falls within the rule that would generally find a taking where a regulation deprives the owner of a fundamental attribute of property ownership. See Guimont, 121 Wash.2d at 605 n. 7, 854 P.2d 1; Settle, supra, at 387. However, we are persuaded that a taking has occurred in this case not only because an owner is deprived of a fundamental attribute of ownership, but also because this property right is statutorily transferred. In Ackerman, this court said: When restrictions upon the ownership of private property fall into the category of proper exercise of the police power, they, validly, may be imposed without payment of compensation. The difficulty arises in deciding whether a restriction is an exercise of the police power or an exercise of the eminent domain power. When private property rights are actually destroyed through the governmental action, then police power rules are usually applicable. See State ex rel. Miller v. Cain (1952), 40 Wash.2d 216, 242 P.2d 505. But, when private property rights are taken from the individual and are conferred upon the public for public use, eminent domain principles are applicable. See, generally, Conger v. Pierce County (1921), 116 Wash. 27, 198 P. 377, 18 A.L.R. 393. 55 Wash.2d at 408, 348 P.2d 664; see also Brazil v. City of Auburn, 93 Wash.2d 484, 490-91, 610 P.2d 909 (1980); Highline, 87 Wash.2d at 17, 548 P.2d 1085. Here, the actual effect of chapter 59.23 RCW is more closely akin to the exercise of eminent domain, and not the police power, because the property right is not only taken, but it is statutorily transferred to a private party for an alleged public use. Eminent domain is defined as [t]he power to take private property for public use by the state, municipalities, and private persons or corporations authorized to exercise functions of public character. Black's Law Dictionary 523 (6th ed.1990). Similarly, condemnation is the [p]rocess of taking private property for public use through the power of eminent domain. Id. at 292. Washington law recognizes that `[t]he authority to condemn must be expressly given or necessarily implied.' State ex rel. Wauconda Inv. Co. v. Superior Court, 68 Wash. 660, 662, 124 P. 127 (1912) (emphasis added) (quoting In re Willis Ave., 56 Mich. 244, 22 N.W. 871 (1885)). While chapter 59.23 RCW says nothing about condemnation, its condemnatory effect is necessarily implied. Chapter 59.23 RCW provides that when a qualified tenant organization gives written notice of a present and continuing desire to purchase the mobile home park, the park may then be sold only according to this chapter. RCW 59.23.015 (emphasis added). Once a park owner thus enters into a purchase and sale agreement with a third party, the park owner must notify the tenant and disclose the terms of the agreement. If within 30 days the tenants pay the owner two percent of the third party's agreed purchase price and tenders a purchase and sale agreement at least as favorable as the agreement between the owner and the third party, the owner must sell the park to the tenants. [12] Chapter 59.23.025 RCW. In effect, Chapter 59.23 RCW takes a fundamentally important property right from the Park Owners and then transfers that right to private parties for an alleged public use.