H-3416.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2474
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State of Washington 56th Legislature 2000 Regular Session
By Representative Kastama
Read first time 01/13/2000. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
AN ACT Relating to pro se attorneys' fees in civil actions; adding a new section to chapter 4.84 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that certain individuals may be deterred from defending against civil lawsuits, or pursuing legal action against the unreasonable actions of others, because they do not possess the required financial resources to retain an attorney for defending or pursuing litigation.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 4.84 RCW to read as follows:
(1) A party representing himself or herself in a civil action is entitled to attorneys' fees in every instance in which a party represented by an attorney would be entitled to attorneys' fees.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, fees payable to a party representing himself or herself in a civil action are calculated as follows:
(a) The hourly rate payable as fees shall be based on the prevailing local hourly rate charged by attorneys for their fees.
(b) The number of hours for which a party is compensated shall be based on the number of hours that an attorney would have needed to accomplish the results obtained by the party representing himself or herself. In making this determination, the court shall determine the kind and quality of skills which were needed to accomplish the result.
(3) In an action where all plaintiffs and defendants are representing themselves and a party is entitled to attorneys' fees, the hourly rate payable as fees is twenty-five dollars per hour. The party shall be compensated for a reasonable number of hours as determined by the court.
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