Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 241 P.3d 1256 (2010)

Citation: Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 241 P.3d 1256 (2010)
Parent Document: Eastwood v. Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc., 241 P.3d 1256 (2010)
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Effective Date: 2010-11-04
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2372386/eastwood-v-horse-harbor-foundation-inc/ ↗

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¶ 10 "Waste is a tort." William Woodfall, The Law of Landlord and Tenant 469 (6th ed. 1822). Arising in the context of a lease for real property, waste is a breach of the lessee's duty to avoid "an unreasonable and improper use" of the leasehold and "to treat the premises in such a manner that no harm be done to them, and that the estate may revert to those having the reversionary interest, without material deterioration." Moore v. Twin City Ice & Cold Storage Co., 92 Wash. 608, 611, 159 P. 779 (1916). Only damage rising to the level of "substantial injury" is considered waste. Id. A lessor thus has a right to the reversionary interest in the property remaining free from substantial material injury. Rights and remedies go together, and a statutory remedy for waste has been available to lessors in Washington since the first territorial assembly enacted one in 1854. See Laws of 1854, XLIV, § 403. The current landlord-tenant waste statute, RCW 64.12.020, provides, "If a guardian, tenant in severalty or in common, for life or for years, or by sufferance, or at will, or a subtenant, of real property commit waste thereon, any person injured thereby may maintain an action at law for damages."

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