H-1474.1          _______________________________________________

 

                                  HOUSE BILL 1825

                  _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1991 Regular Session

 

By Representative Appelwick.

 

Read first time February 11, 1991.  Referred to Committee on Judiciary.Altering mandatory arbitration provisions.

     AN ACT Relating to mandatory arbitration; and reenacting and amending RCW 7.06.020.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

     Sec. 1.  RCW 7.06.020 and 1987 c 212 s 101 and 1987 c 202 s 127 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

     (1) All civil actions, except for appeals from municipal or district courts, which are at issue in the superior court in counties which have authorized arbitration, where the sole relief sought is a lien foreclosure or a money judgment, and where no party asserts a claim in excess of fifteen thousand dollars, or if approved by the superior court of a county by two-thirds or greater vote of the judges thereof, up to ((thirty-five)) forty-five thousand dollars, exclusive of interest and costs, are subject to mandatory arbitration.

     (2) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, civil actions that are at issue in a district court in any county are subject to mandatory arbitration to the same extent as in the superior courts in that county.  This subsection does not apply to:

     (a) Actions filed in small claims departments;

     (b) Claims in excess of the jurisdictional limits of the district courts; or

     (c) Claims of less than ten thousand dollars.  However, with the agreement of all parties to an action, claims of less than ten thousand dollars may be submitted to arbitration.

     (3) If approved by majority vote of the superior court judges of a county which has authorized arbitration, all civil actions which are at issue in the superior court in which the sole relief sought is the establishment, termination or modification of maintenance or child support payments are subject to mandatory arbitration.  The arbitrability of any such action shall not be affected by the amount or number of payments involved.