Court Opinion

ID: 9942402
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-20 22:16:56.214654+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:48:03.638984
License: Public Domain

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

    JONATHAN WESLEY EBBELER AND                                      No. 84849-6-I
    ELIZABETH ASHLEY EBBELER, husband
    and wife,                                                        DIVISION ONE

                              Appellants,                            UNPUBLISHED OPINION

                  v.

    WFG NATIONAL TITLE COMPANY OF
    WASHINGTON, LLC, a Washington limited
    liability company; DANI LEGGETT and
    JANE/JOHN DOE LEGGETT, believed to
    be married persons,

                              Respondents.

        FELDMAN, J. — Jonathan and Elizabeth Ebbeler (the Ebbelers) appeal the

trial court’s summary judgment order dismissing their claims against WFG National

Title Company of Washington, LLC (WFG), and its Limited Practice Officer, Dani

Leggett (collectively, the Escrow Defendants), based on issue preclusion

principles. 1 We reverse.

1
  Although Washington courts and litigants often refer to this doctrine as “collateral estoppel,” it is
“modernly referred to as issue preclusion.” Scholz v. Wash. State Patrol, 3 Wn. App. 2d 584, 594,
416 P.3d 1261 (2018). The U.S. Supreme Court has noted that the modern terminology has
“replaced” the prior terminology, which it described as “a more confusing lexicon.” Taylor v.
Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880, 892 n.5, 128 S. Ct. 2161 (2008).
No. 84849-6-I

                                          I

       This appeal arises out of the Ebbelers’ failed attempt to purchase a home

in Shoreline, Washington. The home was previously owned by Alison Andrews,

who died in February 2018. Andrews’ son, Sidney Andrews, acting as the personal

representative of her estate (the Estate), listed the home for sale. The Ebbelers

attempted to purchase the home from the Estate, but the transaction failed to

close. The Ebbelers sued the Estate and lost. That was the Ebbelers’ first lawsuit

relating to the property and is referred to herein as Ebbeler I.

       On appeal in the first lawsuit, our court summarized the failed attempt to

purchase the property, starting with the negotiations on price, as follows:

              On March 28, 2019, the Ebbelers offered to purchase the
       property for $2 million, using the Northwest Multiple Listing Service
       (NWMLS) real estate purchase and sale agreement form (REPSA).
       On March 30, Andrews extended a counteroffer for $2.625 million,
       offered a personal representative’s deed in lieu of a statutory
       warranty deed, and required that any and all contingencies, both
       financing and inspections, be waived within 30 days of mutual
       acceptance. . . .

              On March 31, 2019, the parties settled on a purchase price of
       $2.3 million. The REPSA contained the Estate’s proposed 30-day
       contingency period clause:

              Buyer shall have 30 days from mutual acceptance to conduct
              all inspections, document reviews, financing approval, etc. . .
              . After 30 days, Buyer and Seller agree that all contingencies
              are deemed to be waived and will proceed to closing as
              specified in the agreement. Buyer may elect, before the 30
              days has expired, to terminate the agreement with written
              notice and Earnest Money will be refunded to the Buyer.

              Upon removal of Buyer’s contingencies or after thirty (30)
              days from mutual acceptance and delivery of the Residential
              Real Estate Purchase and Sale Agreement, whichever is
              sooner, the Earnest Money shall become a non-refundable
              deposit applicable toward the Purchase Price and no longer
              Earnest Money. If this transaction fails to close for any reason
                                        -2-
No. 84849-6-I

            other than default by Seller, the non-refundable deposit shall
            remain the property of Seller.

             The parties agreed on a closing date of “on or before” May 29,
      2019. They also agreed to use WFG National Title (WFG) as the
      closing agent. Once they agreed to these final terms, the Ebbelers
      deposited $65,000 in earnest money with WFG.

            ....

             The Ebbelers allowed the contingency period to lapse and all
      contingencies were, at that point, waived. . . .

             The Ebbelers, residents of Maryland, worked with a mortgage
      broker to obtain a $1.6 million loan from Washington Federal
      (WaFed) to purchase the property. WaFed prepared loan documents
      and forwarded them to WFG for the Ebbelers to execute. WFG
      arranged for a traveling notary to meet the Ebbelers to execute the
      loan and closing papers on Saturday, May 25, 2019, four days before
      the scheduled closing date.

             WFG mistakenly provided the Ebbelers with a draft statutory
      warranty deed, rather than a personal representative’s deed, to
      approve. The Ebbelers approved the deed form, signed what they
      believed to be all remaining documents, and returned them via
      overnight mail to WFG.

            WFG received the Ebbelers’ signed closing documents on the
      morning of May 28 and forwarded them to WaFed to review. The
      same day, the Ebbelers wired a $690,000 down payment to WFG.

             Just before 6 p.m. that evening, Dani Leggett, the closing
      agent, emailed Andrews and asked him to arrive at WFG’s Seattle
      offices at 11 a.m. the next day to sign closing documents so she
      could “send documents to the lender prior to their funding cutoff.”
      Leggett informed Andrews that “[t]he buyer’s lender requires
      reviewing a portion of the seller signed documents prior to funding
      their loan and releasing us to record.” The following morning,
      Andrews told Leggett that he would come in to execute the closing
      documents but that she did not have the authority to distribute any
      documents to the Ebbelers’ lender until he provided written
      authorization for her to close.

              At approximately 11 a.m. on May 29, WaFed notified WFG
      that it had discovered at least 13 errors in the Ebbelers’ signed loan
      documents that needed to be corrected before it would wire funds for
      closing.
                                      -3-
No. 84849-6-I

             At 1 p.m., [the attorney for the Estate, Lisa] Peterson notified
      Leggett that the Estate would not authorize her to send copies of
      signed documents to anyone unless and until all funds had been
      deposited. Leggett responded that the only documents she wanted
      to send were the signed escrow instructions, the “closing disclosure,”
      and the statutory warranty deed. When Peterson received this email,
      she told Leggett that the proper deed form should be a personal
      representative’s deed, not a statutory warranty deed, and that she
      would not authorize WFG to distribute a signed deed before funds
      were on hand to close. She also informed Leggett that Andrews
      would be there by 2:30 p.m. to sign the closing documents.

             Leggett then sent an email notifying everyone involved in the
      transaction that once Andrews arrived to sign the documents and
      she had the “green light” to move forward with the closing, she would
      let everyone know. She further stated that it was her belief that the
      lender’s cutoff to fund the loan was 2 p.m. and suggested that the
      parties would need to extend the REPSA. At 1:40 p.m., the Ebbelers’
      mortgage broker, Phil Mazzaferro, sent an email to the parties
      indicating that WaFed wanted more changes to the loan documents.
      Barbara Otero, WaFed’s loan manager, testified that the bank could
      not and would not fund the loan until these items were corrected.

            Nothing in the record indicates if or when the errors in the
      Ebbelers’ loan documents were corrected. Neither WaFed nor the
      Ebbelers ever deposited the balance of the purchase price with
      WFG.

              Andrews arrived at WFG’s offices at 2:17 p.m. and learned
      that WFG had prepared, and the Ebbelers had approved, the
      incorrect deed form. He immediately notified his attorney of the error
      and she sent WFG a personal representative’s deed for WFG to
      finalize. WFG asked its lawyer to approve the revised deed.
      Andrews signed all the closing documents, except the deed, by 2:48
      p.m. He signed the correct deed form at 3:51 p.m. Because the King
      County Recorder’s Office closes at 3:30 p.m., WFG would have been
      unable to record the deed that day.

            When the Ebbelers realized the transaction would not close,
      they asked Andrews to extend the closing date. Andrews refused
      because the Ebbelers had failed to tender the purchase proceeds.

Ebbeler v. Andrews, No. 82225-0-I, slip op. at 3-7 (Wash. Ct. App. Feb. 28, 2022)

(unpublished),   https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/822250.pdf       (footnotes

                                       -4-
No. 84849-6-I

omitted).

       In Ebbeler I, the Ebbelers sued the Estate for recovery of the earnest

money, claiming the Estate (1) breached the REPSA by failing to execute and

deliver a deed in a timely manner and (2) breached its duty of good faith and fair

dealing by preventing the Ebbelers from funding the loan. Id. at 7. The Estate

filed a counterclaim alleging the Ebbelers had breached the REPSA. Id. Following

a bench trial, the trial court found that the Ebbelers had breached the REPSA by

failing to timely pay the purchase price by the closing date and therefore had

forfeited the earnest money. Id. at 7-8. Critical here, the trial court’s findings of

fact and conclusions of law indicates as follows: (1) “[t]he Ebbeler’s [sic] failure to

perform caused the closing to fail”; and (2) “responsibility [for timely payment at

closing] lay entirely with the Ebbelers and it is the ultimate failure for this purchase

not happening.” 2 On appeal, we affirmed the trial court’s ruling in all respects, and

the Supreme Court denied review. Id. at 1; Ebbeler v. Andrews, 199 Wn.2d 1024,

512 P.3d 901 (2022).

       After the judgment in Ebbeler I became final, the Ebbelers filed the instant

action against the Escrow Defendants, which is referred to herein as Ebbeler II.

The Ebbelers asserted four claims: (1) breach of contract; (2) professional

negligence; (3) tortious interference with contract; and (4) violation of the

Washington Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19.86 (the CPA).                       Whereas the

contract at issue for purposes of the tortious interference claim is the REPSA

2
  We refer to these statements as “findings” even though the first appears in the trial court’s
conclusions of law (in what is incorrectly numbered paragraph 98) and the second in the
trial court’s “order of the court” (in paragraph 7). Whether the statements are properly
characterized as findings, conclusions, or a judicial decree is not material to our analysis.
                                             -5-
No. 84849-6-I

between the Ebbelers and the Estate, the contract at issue for purposes of the

breach of contract claim is the Closing Agreement and Escrow Instructions (the

Escrow Instructions) between and among the Ebbelers and the Escrow Defendant.

       Relevant here, the Escrow Instructions include the following provisions:

       Documents. The closing agent is instructed to select, prepare,
       complete, correct, receive, hold, record and deliver documents as
       necessary to close the transaction.

              ....

       Instructions from Third Parties. If any written instructions
       necessary to close the transaction according to the parties’
       agreement are given to the closing agent by anyone other than the
       parties or their attorney, including but not limited to, lenders, such
       instructions shall be deemed to have been accepted and agreed to
       by the parties.

       Disclosure of Information to Third Parties. The closing agent is
       authorized to furnish, upon request, copies of any closing
       documents, agreements or instructions concerning the transaction to
       the parties’ attorneys and to any real estate agent, lender or title
       insurance company involved in the transaction.

              ....

       Inability to Comply With Instructions. If the closing agent receives
       conflicting instructions or determines, for any reason, that it cannot
       comply with these instructions by the date for closing specified in the
       parties’ agreement or in any written extension of that date, it shall
       notify the parties, request further instructions, and in its discretion:
       (1) continue to perform its duties and close the transaction as soon
       as possible after receiving further instructions, or (2) if no conflicting
       instructions have been received, return any money or documents
       then held by it to the parties that deposited the same, less any fees
       and expenses chargeable to such party, or (3) commence a court
       action, deposit the money and documents held by it into the registry
       of the court, and ask the court to determine the rights of the parties.

At bottom, the Ebbelers claim that the Escrow Defendants breached these specific

contractual requirements and that their breach of contract, as well as their tortious

conduct, ultimately caused the closing to fail.

                                         -6-
No. 84849-6-I

       Because the trial court in Ebbeler I expressly found that “[t]he Ebbeler’s [sic]

failure to perform caused the closing to fail,” the Escrow Defendants filed a motion

for summary judgment to dismiss the Ebbelers’ claims, arguing that the claims are

barred by issue preclusion because each claim “possesses a causation element

that has already been judicially determined” in Ebbeler I. The trial court granted

the motion and dismissed the Ebbelers’ claims. Its order explains: “the issue of

causation in this case is collaterally estopped based on the Findings of Fact and

Conclusion of Law issued in [Ebbeler I].” The trial court then awarded attorney

fees and costs to the Escrow Defendants. The Ebbelers appeal.

                                          II

       The principal issue before us is whether the trial court erred in dismissing

the Ebbelers’ claims on summary judgment on the basis of issue preclusion.

“Summary judgment is proper where there is no genuine issue of material fact and

the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Weaver v. City of

Everett, 194 Wn.2d 464, 472, 450 P.3d 177 (2019) (citing CR 56(c)). “We review

summary judgment orders de novo, viewing all facts and reasonable inferences in

the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Id. We likewise review a trial

court’s application of issue preclusion de novo. Id. at 473.

       Issue preclusion is an equitable doctrine that “bars relitigation of particular

issues decided in a prior proceeding.” Id. The party asserting issue preclusion

must establish four elements: “(1) the issue decided in the earlier proceeding was

identical to the issue presented in the later proceeding; (2) the earlier proceeding

ended in a judgment on the merits; (3) the party against whom [issue preclusion]

is asserted was a party to, or in privity with a party to, the earlier proceeding; and
                                         -7-
No. 84849-6-I

(4) application of [issue preclusion] does not work an injustice on the party against

whom it is applied.” Id. at 474. The Ebbelers assert that elements (1) and (4) have

not been satisfied and that the decisive causation issue was not actually decided

in Ebbeler I. We agree.

       The first requirement to apply issue preclusion—identicality—limits issue

preclusion to “situations where the issue presented in the second proceeding is

identical in all respects to an issue decided in the prior proceeding, and where the

controlling facts and applicable legal rules remain unchanged.” Lemond v. Dep’t

of Licensing, 143 Wn. App. 797, 805, 180 P.3d 829 (2008) (quoting Standlee v.

Smith, 83 Wn.2d 405, 408, 518 P.2d 721 (1974)). Courts only extend issue

preclusion to “‘ultimate facts,’ i.e., those facts directly at issue in the first

controversy upon which the claim rests, and not to ‘evidentiary facts’ which are

merely collateral to the original claim.” McDaniels v. Carlson, 108 Wn.2d 299, 305-

06, 738 P.2d 254 (1987) (quoting Philip A. Trautman, Claim and Issue Preclusion

in Civil Litigation in Washington, 60 W ASH. L. REV. 805, 833 (1985)); see also State

v. Eggleston, 164 Wn.2d 61, 74, 187 P.3d 233 (2008) (“An ‘ultimate fact’ is a fact

‘essential to the claim or the defense.’” (quoting BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 629 (8th

ed. 2004)). The identicality requirement is not satisfied “[w]here an issue arises in

two entirely different contexts.” McDaniels, 108 Wn.2d at 305. Additionally, “[a]n

important clarification of the first requirement that an issue was ‘decided’ in the

earlier proceeding is that the issue must have been ‘actually litigated and

necessarily determined’ in that proceeding.” Scholz v. Wash. State Patrol, 3 Wn.

App. 2d 584, 595, 416 P.3d 1261 (2018) (quoting Shoemaker v. City of Bremerton,

109 Wn.2d 504, 508, 745 P.2d 858 (1987)).
                                        -8-
No. 84849-6-I

       Applying these legal principles here, the identicality requirement is not

satisfied. The Escrow Defendants’ causal responsibility for the failed transaction

was not actually litigated and necessarily decided in Ebbeler I because the

causation issue in Ebbeler I arose in a different context. The sole issue in Ebbeler

I was whether the Ebbelers or the Estate breached their duties under the REPSA,

and the trial court concluded—in the context of that dispute—the Ebbelers

breached. In contrast, the issues raised in Ebbeler II concern whether the Escrow

Defendants’ breach of their separate contractual and tort duties caused the

Ebbelers to breach the REPSA and, as a result, forfeit their earnest money and

lose the opportunity to purchase the home. Addressing that issue, the Ebbelers

allege the Escrow Defendants breached the Escrow Instructions by (1) failing to

correct the errors in WaFed’s loan documents, (2) failing to provide the correct

deed form to the Ebbelers and the Estate before WaFed’s wiring cutoff at 2 p.m.

on the closing date, (3) erroneously informing Andrews that he could sign the

closing documents after WaFed’s wiring cutoff, (4) failing to notify the Ebbelers that

the Estate had given conflicting instructions to WFG to withhold the Estate’s signed

closing documents from WaFed until further authorization from the Estate, and (5)

failing to provide the Estate’s signed closing documents to WaFed notwithstanding

the Estate’s instructions. The Ebbelers further allege that the Escrow Defendants

breached their duty to provide reasonably prudent escrow services, tortiously

interfered with the contractual relationship between the Ebbelers and the Estate,

and violated the CPA. None of these issues was decided by the trial court in

Ebbeler I because it was limited to resolving the dispute between the Ebbelers and

                                        -9-
No. 84849-6-I

the Estate. Therefore, the issues presented in Ebbeler II are not identical to those

decided in Ebbeler I.

      Moreover, even if the identicality requirement were satisfied here, the fourth

element—"application of [issue preclusion] does not work an injustice on the party

against whom it is applied” (Weaver, 194 Wn.2d at 474 (quoting Christiansen v.

Grant County Hospital Dist. No. 1, 152 Wn.2d 299, 307, 96 P.3d 957 (2004))—

also has not been satisfied. In determining whether applying issue preclusion will

work an injustice on the party against whom it is applied, “Washington courts focus

on whether the parties to the earlier proceeding had a full and fair hearing on the

issue.” State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Ford Motor Co., 186 Wn. App. 715, 725, 346

P.3d 771 (2015) (quoting Hadley v. Maxwell, 144 Wn.2d 306, 311, 27 P.3d 600

(2001)). While the purposes of issue preclusion are “to promote judicial economy

by avoiding relitigation of the same issue, to afford the parties the assurance of

finality of judicial determinations, and to prevent harassment of and inconvenience

to litigants,” these purposes must be “balanced against the important competing

interest of not depriving a litigant of the opportunity to adequately argue the case

in court.” Lemond, 143 Wn. App. at 804.

      Applying issue preclusion here would work an injustice against the Ebbelers

because it would deprive them of their opportunity to obtain relief against the

Escrow Defendants. Moreover, declining to apply issue preclusion would not

prejudice the Escrow Defendants because, as nonparties to Ebbeler I, they did not

face liability from or expend substantial resources in defending against the prior

litigation between the Ebbelers and the Estate. Instead, in that case the Ebbelers

primarily litigated whether their own actions or those of the Estate prevented the
                                       - 10 -
No. 84849-6-I

transaction from closing. Because the Ebbelers have not yet had a full and fair

hearing to adjudicate their claims against the Escrow Defendants, it would be

unjust to apply issue preclusion in this case.

       Indeed, the potential for injustice is heightened in this case because the trial

court in Ebbeler I, to the extent it addressed the Escrow Defendants’ causal

responsibility for the failure of the transaction, indicated that the Ebbelers’ claims

against the Escrow Defendants may be meritorious. The court found that the

“administrative work” in completing WaFed’s loan documents that WFG arranged

for the Ebbelers to sign “appears to have directly impacted the loan being funded,”

although the court did not specify who was responsible for completing this

administrative work. The purportedly corrected loan documents that WFG sent to

WaFed still contained multiple errors and may have been sent after the closing

deadline. And Leggett apparently did not know that WaFed had a 2 p.m. cutoff to

wire the loan proceeds to WFG, nor did Leggett communicate this deadline to

Andrews when scheduling his signing appointment. These findings seemingly

point the finger at the Escrow Defendants for causing the Ebbelers to fail to secure

funding from WaFed by the closing date and ultimately breach the REPSA.

       Likewise, the trial court in the instant case recognized that “it’s clear that the

[Ebbelers] and the [Escrow Defendants] had entered into a contract where WFG

had certain duties” and that “[i]t’s also clear from the record that WFG breached

some of those duties.” The court further noted that the Ebbeler I trial court’s finding

that the Ebbelers were ultimately at fault for the failure of the transaction “seems

to acknowledge impliedly that there was fault on behalf of others, including WFG,

that were involved in this transaction.” In fact, Leggett testified in her deposition
                                         - 11 -
No. 84849-6-I

during discovery in Ebbeler II that “there was nothing that [the Ebbelers] could have

done differently to make the transaction go through.” Thus, rather than foreclose

claims against the Escrow Defendants, the findings from Ebbeler I instead open

the door to a finding in Ebbeler II that the Escrow Defendants caused the Ebbelers

to breach the REPSA and incur damages.              On this record, applying issue

preclusion would be unjust.

       The Escrow Defendants’ contrary arguments are unpersuasive. They rely

heavily on the discrete findings in Ebbeler I without properly considering the

context in which those findings were made. While the trial court in Ebbeler I found

that “[t]he Ebbeler’s [sic] failure to perform caused the closing to fail” and

responsibility to supply the funds at closing to complete the sale “lay entirely with

the Ebbelers and it is the ultimate failure for this purchase not happening,” the

identicality element is not satisfied where, as here, “an issue arises in two entirely

different contexts.” McDaniels, 108 Wn.2d at 305. The Ebbeler I court could not,

and did not, decide whether the Escrow Defendants caused the transaction to fail

because they were not parties to the suit and their responsibility for the failed

transaction was not material to the outcome of that litigation. To the extent the trial

court’s findings in Ebbeler I addressed the Escrow Defendants’ causal

responsibility for the failure of the transaction, those findings were not “ultimate

facts” with preclusive effect because they were not essential to the claims or

defenses raised in the prior action. See id.; Eggleston, 164 Wn.2d at 74.

       The Escrow Defendants’ reliance on our unpublished opinion in Sullivan v.

Skinner & Saar, No. 77516-2-I (Wash. Ct. App. Jan. 28, 2019) (unpublished),

https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/775162.pdf, is misplaced.          In Sullivan,
                                        - 12 -
No. 84849-6-I

property owners began building a fence near their boundary line after their attorney

incorrectly advised them that they did not share an easement with their neighbors.

Id. at 2. The attorney later discovered the easement and informed the owners of

its existence, but they nevertheless continued building the fence into the

easement. Id. at 3. When the neighbors filed an action to quiet the owners’ title

to the easement, the court determined the owners had abandoned the easement

by continuing to construct their fence after their attorney notified them of its

existence. Id. at 5-6. In the owners’ subsequent malpractice action against their

attorney for damages based on their loss of the easement, our court applied issue

preclusion on appeal to bar their claims because the initial action “resolve[d] the

issue of causation of the Sullivans’ loss of their easement” by “attribut[ing]

abandonment of the easement to the Sullivans’ actions . . . after being advised [by

their attorney] that an easement was recorded.” Id. at 10. The circumstances here

are vastly different. Whereas the trial court in the initial action in Sullivan absolved

the owners’ attorney of blame and found the owners entirely responsible for their

loss of the easement, the trial court in Ebbeler I implied that the Escrow Defendants

may be at least partially to blame for the failure of the transaction. Accordingly,

Sullivan does not support the Escrow Defendants’ argument that the trial court

correctly dismissed the Ebbelers’ claims on issue preclusion grounds. 3

       Lastly, the Escrow Defendants contend that applying issue preclusion to bar

the Ebbelers’ claims would not be unjust because the Ebbelers could have named

the Escrow Defendants as parties to Ebbeler I. This argument is unpersuasive

3
 Furthermore, we are not bound by Sullivan because it is an unpublished opinion with no
precedential value. See GR 14.1(a).
                                         - 13 -
No. 84849-6-I

because Washington law permits a purchaser in a real estate contract to maintain

separate causes of action against the seller and the escrow company for damages

incurred in connection with the real estate transaction. See Sanwick v. Puget

Sound Title Ins. Co., 70 Wn.2d 438, 444, 423 P.2d 624 (1967). The Escrow

Defendants’ attorney appropriately acknowledged at oral argument that the

Ebbelers were not required to join the Escrow Defendants as necessary parties to

Ebbeler I under CR 19. Thus, the Ebbelers’ decision to not name the Escrow

Defendants as parties to Ebbeler I does not require us to apply issue preclusion in

Ebbeler II.

        In sum, the issues in Ebbeler I and II are not identical with regard to the

critical causation issues in the two lawsuits, and applying issue preclusion here is

unjust. For these reasons, the causation findings in Ebbeler I as set forth in

paragraph 98 of the trial court’s conclusions of law and paragraph 7 of its order of

the court (see supra at footnote 2) are not entitled to issue preclusive effect in

Ebbeler II. The trial court thus erred in dismissing the Ebbelers’ claims based on

issue preclusion principles. 4

4 In granting summary judgment solely on the basis of issue preclusion, the trial court did not

address the Escrow Defendants’ additional arguments regarding the independent duty doctrine,
lack of intent or improper purpose for the tortious interference claim, and public interest impact for
the CPA claim. Given the lack of sufficient briefing on these issues and our dispositive ruling
regarding issue preclusion principles, we decline to reach these other arguments. See Christian v.
Tohmeh, 191 Wn. App. 709, 727-28, 366 P.3d 16 (2015) (“[T]his court does not review issues not
argued, briefed, or supported with citation to authority.”) (citing RAP 10.3(a)(6)); Clark County v.
W. Wash. Growth Mgmt. Hr’gs Review Bd., 177 Wn.2d 136, 146-47, 298 P.3d 704 (2013) (appellate
courts “retain wide discretion in determining which issues must be addressed in order to properly
decide a case on appeal” and “must address only those claims and issues necessary to properly
resolving the case as raised on appeal by interested parties”). We express no opinion on these
additional issues, nor do we express any opinion on whether other findings in Ebbeler I also are
not entitled to preclusive effect in light of our ruling herein.
                                               - 14 -
No. 84849-6-I

                                        III

      Because we reverse the trial court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of

the Escrow Defendants, we also vacate the trial court’s award of prevailing party

attorney fees and costs because the Escrow Defendants are no longer prevailing

parties. For similar reasons, we decline to award appellate attorney fees or costs

to either party. See Wash. Fed. v. Gentry, 179 Wn. App. 470, 496, 319 P.3d 823

(2014) (“Because a prevailing party has not yet been determined and will not be

determined until after [further proceedings] on remand, we decline to award fees

now. That determination may be made by the trial court at such time as it makes

an award of reasonable attorney fees.”).

      Reversed and remanded.

WE CONCUR:

                                      - 15 -