A resident of Turkey was injured in Washington while on a bicycle. He sued the Washington driver. The injured bicyclist got only a small award in arbitration, so he appealed and was given a trial date for a jury trial. The bicyclist then relocated back to Turkey indefinitely. When he failed to post a bond, the trial court dismissed his personal injury claim. He appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
Because he appealed a mandatory arbitration award, the injured bicyclist was subject to paying attorney fees and costs unless he got a better award at trial. The bicyclist was out of the country, and did not know when he might return to Washington – making collecting on the potential fees and costs award difficult. Therefore, the trial court granted a defense motion for a bond, and ordered it be paid within 90 days. When that did not happen, the trial court dismissed the case. With the case dismissed, the injured bicyclist obviously did not improve the arbitration result, and the trial court awarded fees and costs of $8,755.
The Court of Appeals upheld the trial court, and also awarded additional fees for the appeal.[1]
As noted above, this was not one of our cases.
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By personal injury attorney Travis Eller
[1] Saylik v. Walker, unpublished (67951-1-I, September 23, 2013). Available at https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/679511.pdf (last accessed 10/13/13).