BILL REQ. #:  S-4681.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/09/04.   

     AN ACT Relating to attorney fees; and amending RCW 4.84.080 and 12.20.060.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 4.84.080 and 1985 c 240 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     When allowed to either party, costs to be called the attorney fee, shall be as follows:
     (1) In all actions where judgment is rendered, ((one)) two hundred ((twenty-five)) dollars.
     (2) In all actions where judgment is rendered in the supreme court or the court of appeals, after argument, ((one)) two hundred ((twenty-five)) dollars.

Sec. 2   RCW 12.20.060 and 1993 c 341 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     When the prevailing party in district court is entitled to recover costs as authorized in RCW 4.84.010 in a civil action, the judge shall add the amount thereof to the judgment; in case of failure of the plaintiff to recover or of dismissal of the action, the judge shall enter up a judgment in favor of the defendant for the amount of his or her costs; and in case any party so entitled to costs is represented in the action by an attorney, the judge shall include attorney's fees ((of one hundred twenty-five dollars)) in the amount provided in RCW 4.84.060 as part of the costs: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That the plaintiff shall not be entitled to such attorney fee unless he or she obtains, exclusive of costs, a judgment in the sum of fifty dollars or more: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That if the plaintiff obtains judgment, exclusive of costs, of at least fifty dollars but less than two hundred dollars, the judge shall include attorney fees of one hundred twenty-five dollars as part of the costs.