HEX 20-005 20210108 Pre-Hearing - Adverse Possession Claim (Hearing Examiner)From: Phil Olbrechts <olbrechtslaw(@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, January 8, 20217:28 PM
To: alstefogloPmsn.com; Gribben, Brandon S. <Bgribben(@helsell.com>; DAkhbari(@helsell.com;
Stacey Welsh <Stacey.Welsh(@cityoffederalway.com>; Eric Rhoades
<Eric. Rhoades(@cityoffederalway.com>; Stephanie Courtney
<Stephanie.Courtney(@cityoffederalway.com>; aleksey24(@gmail.com
Subject: City of Federal Way Wall Appeal; 19-105849-000-SF
Hello Parties,
I serve as the Hearing Examiner assigned to adjudicate your appeal proceeding. City staff are
currently scheduling a hearing date, which appears to be sometime in the next three to four weeks.
To be as efficient as possible, I would like to present some options to the party on resolving a
jurisdictional issue that may dispose of the case before it gets to the merits.
It appears that resolution of the case involves a matter that may be outside my jurisdiction,
specifically whether the Walls have acquired ownership of a portion of the Applicant's property
through adverse possession. The courts appear to consider adverse possession claims to be outside
the jurisdiction of local administrative decision making bodies. See Halverson v. Bellevue, 41 Wn.
App. 457 (1985)("Because the merit of an adverse possession claim cannot be determined by the
city prior to adjudication..."). Borrowing from judicial case law, if there is an issue regarding
jurisdiction I have the duty to raise the issue even if it's uncontested. Riley v. Sturdevant, 12 Wn.
App. 808, 810 (1975).
Given the factors above, how would the parties like to address jurisdiction? If the parties are
in agreement that this case hinges on the Walls' adverse possession claim and that I have no
jurisdiction to consider it, the parties are free to present a stipulated order to that effect. Two
other alternatives are to present briefing on the issue (if the parties disagree on the issue), or to
just have me write up my own order resolving the issue without input.
If we can get past the jurisdictional issue, I also need to know if the parties would like to
exchange witness and exhibit lists a week in advance of the hearing and whether there are any
other prehearing matters that need to be addressed.
I look forward to your input.