Court Opinion

ID: 9633223
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:38:44.97422+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:30.877451
License: Public Domain

*35Brachtenbach, J.
(dissenting) — Ignoring the defendant’s own testimony, the majority casts this dispute into a traditional landlord-tenant battle and from that relationship creates an implied warranty of habitability. That creation might well be a desirable change in Washington law, but this simply is not the case in which it should be implemented.
The majority’s application of such a warranty to the defects presented in this case and even its characterization of the defendant as a mere “tenant” are unsound in light of the defendant’s testimony, elicited by his own counsel:
Q. And what was the agreement between you and the Foiseys [sic] relating to the purchase of that house? A. The agreement was that I was to pay $50 a month to buy the house . . . Q. So, it was your understanding that the agreement was that you were to buy the house for $50 a month? A. That was my understanding . . . Q. At the time you moved in] were there defects on the premises? A. All kinds but I tried my best to bring them up to some remedy of standard . . . Q. What was your understanding as to what you had to do to exercise the option? A. My understanding was to clean the house up and fix it up to some degree. Q. So, in other words, you thought that— A. Take care of it like a regular home owner. I figure it was mine and I was going to try to do the best I could but I run into all kinds of difficulty with the permit . . . Q. So, it was your understanding that you were purchasing the house and that is your only obligation to pay $50 a month? A. That was the whole understanding at the conception of the deal because her mother told me [objection], Q. So, the only time prior to March you were on the premises was to just look at it? A. Right. I told them I would buy and they said fine. They put me in it for $50 a month. Q. Had you done any work cleaning up the house or anything around the premises before you moved in on [sic] March? A. Oh, yes, I had to. Q. Before you moved in? A. Right, I had to. In the basement there was termites and there was things. Q. When were you doing those things? A. In February . . . Q. At that time did you have any agreement with the Foiseys [sic] as to whether or not you were going to purchase it? A. I had the agreement before I walked in *36that house. That’s when they told me you can have it for $50 a month. They wanted $87 a month. I said it isn’t worth it because it’s sitting still and the windows are out. '[Interruption.] Q. That understanding was that you were going to pay $50 per month? A. Correct. That is the only way I would walk in that house because I wasn’t in the proper position to bargain. They bargained to me because I saw a deal and I grabbed it . . . Q. As far as you were concerned, you never received any word that you were anything but a purchaser, is that right? A. To my knowledge, that was the only way I would have gone into that house as a purchaser. What would I want to rent it for I had a house of my own.
From that testimony it is perfectly clear that the defendant waS fully aware of the defects and deficiencies in the premises. Those defects and deficiencies were the very reason he was willing and able to negotiate lower payments.
It requires no authority to sustain the proposition that a person who takes possession of premises with known defects, intends to repair those defects, bargains for reduced monthly payments and characterizes the transaction as a “deal” which he “grabbed,” neither deserves nor needs the protection of an implied warranty of habitability.
The fact of the matter, apparent from the record, is that the defendant encountered difficulties with his continued, anticipated repairs when the housing code violations pending against the plaintiffs came to light. That situation might give rise to other remedies, but they are not asserted here.
But apart from the foregoing, and even if the defendant is to be characterized as a tenant in the strict legal sense of that word, the majority fails to recognize that the Seattle housing code was not properly before the trial court.
In his answer, affirmative defense and counterclaim, the defendant alleged violations of the provisions of the housing, building, fire, health and sanitation codes of the City of Seattle. Such shotgun pleading is a clear violation of CR 9 (i). At the time of trial, absolutely no proof of the housing code was provided, except to offer an unauthenticated, unidentified booklet entitled “Housing Code, City of Seattle.” *37The trial court, on that ground alone, correctly rejected testimony about violations of a city ordinance which had not been properly pleaded, properly authenticated or properly identified.
The trial court should be affirmed.
Wright, J., concurs with Brachtenbach, J.