Court Opinion

ID: 9630863
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:23:14.032194+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:45.425073
License: Public Domain

Madsen, J.
(dissenting in part) — Although it is debatable whether RCW 90.14.190 was intended to apply to the circumstances of this case, I concur in the majority’s result both because the language "any decision of the department of ecology” (RCW 90.14.190) is extremely broad and because it makes little sense to award attorney fees when the erroneous decision of the department pertains to an area in which it has authority to act but not when the department exceeds its authority to make the decision complained of.
I disagree with the majority, however, that the Legislature intended the award of attorney fees where the only harm suffered is the erroneous decision. Had the Legislature meant that the erroneous decision is the injury which triggers the attorney fee provision, then the additional requirement that the court find an injury resulting from the erroneous decision is mere surplusage. Statutes should not be interpreted to render any portion superfluous. Lutheran Day Care v. Snohomish County, 119 Wn.2d 91, 104, 829 P.2d 746 (1992), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1079, 113 S. Ct. 1044 (1993); Progressive Animal Welfare Soc’y v. University of Washington, 125 Wn.2d 243, 260, 884 P.2d 592 (1994). Moreover, the majority’s construction of the statute completely abrogates the American rule of attorney fees by allowing the recovery of fees as damages. See Rorvig v. Douglas, 123 Wn.2d 854, 861, 873 P.2d 492 (1994) (recognizing exception to American rule permitting attorney fees to be recovered as damages in slander of title action, while adhering to American rule as general rule).
*521I would find that the Court of Appeals was correct in remanding the case to determine whether there was any actual harm, beyond the incurring of attorney fees.
Pekelis, J. Pro Tern., concurs with Madsen, J.