By vote of their peers, Imants F. Holmquist and Hamilton H. Gardiner have been named to the Rising Stars list for 2015. For Hamilton, this marks his fourth time being named to this list.

As landlords in Washington State are well aware, the Landlord-Tenant Act (RCW 59.18 et seq.) and Seattle Just-Cause Eviction Ordinance (SMC 22.206 et seq.) are heavily weighted in favor of tenants’ rights. These laws have created a daunting and oft confusing legal process for landlords to navigate when an eviction becomes necessary. The first step in evicting a tenant is to place the tenant on notice that they are in default of their lease.  The type of default and issues surrounding the tenancy will dictate the type of notice a landlord is required to serve.

After serving on the board of directors for the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce for two years, Hamilton Gardiner was nominated and elected to serve as Chair of the Board for 2015. The Chamber supports a healthy economic climate in which the community and its businesses can grow and prosper. For more information about the Chamber please visit: www.wschamber.com.

On June 2, 2014, after great debate and protracted negotiations among various business and labor representatives throughout the City, the Seattle City Council made history by voting unanimously to pass Mayor Ed Murray’s $15 per hour minimum wage plan. The goal of the plan, according to the Mayor, is to “grow the middle class.”  This new minimum wage will eventually be a sixty one percent (61%) increase over the current state minimum wage of $9.32 per hour (already the highest state minimum wage in the United States), and is a dramatic wage escalation for those affected businesses.

Starting on September 1, 2012, employees of businesses operating in Seattle began accruing paid sick and paid safe time (PSST), defined as the “same hourly wage that the employee would have earned during the time PSST was taken.”  The new requirements apply to employers with more than four (4) full-time equivalent employees and cover all full and part-time employees, as well as temporary and occasional employees who work more than 240 hours in a calendar year. 

A February 2012 Washington State Supreme Court decision, Snohomish County Public Transportation Benefit Area Corp. v. First Group America, Inc., clarified how Washington courts are to interpret indemnification clauses. The facts of the case are interesting and the ruling provides a tie in to our daily work since indemnification clauses often arise in lease and purchase and sale negotiations.