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382 stories matching deed
- A Nephew, a Vault Key, and the Missing Deeds
B. F. Day says his nephew by marriage talked him into recording a deed in the younger man's name—then used a key to the safe-deposit box to make the proof of ownership disappear.
- Her Wages Bought the House at Fourth and Plum. The Sheriff’s Deed Was Canceled.
Elizabeth Burkett turned a $700 gift into a hotel and a home. When a Pierce County judgment against her husband threatened it, a Thurston County judge traced the property back to her own labor.
- The Ghost Deed: How a Secret Land Grab Stole Seattle’s Future
A legal battle erupts over Burke’s Second Addition after it is revealed that W.H. Bourn Sr. used a dying partner to hold title to prime land, leaving his estate vulnerable to fraud.
- The Deeds That Set Tacoma Speculating
When Tacoma Land Company deeds to railroad magnate Henry Villard hit the recorder’s office, rumors of a Northern Pacific power grab briefly set off a real-estate boom.
- The Eight-Month Deed Deception
A Seattle couple sues to correct a property deed they allege was swapped after they had already agreed to terms.
- The Forged Deed of Law’s Addition
A legal battle over Seattle land titles leads to a rare court order impounding a suspicious document suspected of being forged in California.
- A Missing Deed, Twenty Years of Possession, and a Lot in Denny’s Lands
A Seattle quiet-title case turned on record deeds, an unrecorded sale, and two brick buildings—and the plaintiff won.
- Predatory Saloon Keeper Targets Puyallup Landholder
An Indian man faces the potential loss of his property after signing a document he believed was a loan mortgage, but which turned out to be a deed.
- A Million-Dollar Land Grab and the Wife Left Behind
Abandoned for ten years in Pennsylvania, Mrs. J. E. Jordan comes to Seattle's superior court to stop her husband from deeding away the community's real estate to a medicine company — and names the men who helped him do it.
- The Paperwork Error That Challenged Seattle’s Property Claims
A legal dispute over a real estate deed in 1885 reveals how bureaucratic technicalities—specifically a missing county seal—threatened the validity of early land titles in King County.
- A Missing Lawyer, a $350 Deed, and the North Olympia Land Scheme
With Attorney D. P. Ballard absent, Olympia lawyers are tracing suspicious transfers in a platted addition—land already sold to dozens of owners, now used as security for a $4,000 mortgage.
- The Battle for the Harmon Estate
A legal dispute unfolds in North Seattle over an elderly woman’s property, a deed signed under suspicious circumstances, and a family legacy caught in the crossfire of elder care and inheritance.
- A Wife Says Her Husband Tried to Shoot Her—Then Altered the Deed
Rachel McDonald's divorce suit describes years of cruelty, a terrifying revolver threat, and a scheme to erase her name from their Ravenna property.
- The Right-of-Way Racket: How One Man Tried to Sell Seattle's Waterfront Twice
A legal battle in King County reveals the chaotic land grabs of early Seattle, where a single deed could claim ownership of deep-water access rights across the entire waterfront.
- The Grandfather, the Grandson, and the Five Acres That Vanished From the Deed
Seymour Wetmore meant to give 14-year-old Clyde a share of the family farm. A guardianship fight and a pair of recorded deeds left the boy with nothing—so the old man is suing to undo the transfer.
- The Mules That Weren't
A local land deal sours when a man discovers his new livestock are not quite as advertised.
- He Burned the Deed to Prove His Love — Then Sold Her House for $1
A Tacoma wife says her husband coaxed her into signing away the family home, torched the paper to win her back, and secretly sold the property to his son.
- The Forged Signature and the Legal Loophole of Marriage
A husband accuses his wife of forgery for signing his name, only to have a judge dismiss the case based on the legal doctrine of coverture.
- A $25,000 View, a Deed, and a Debt: The Land Fight South of Olympia
Ben Turner says George A. Barnes took an 80-acre donation-claim tract as mortgage security—then refused to deed it back after Turner tendered the money.
- The Missing Will That Would Have Given Seattle a Library
Henry Yesler's widow and two doctors are arrested, accused of burning a will that left the pioneer's fortune—and his mansion—to the city.
- The Forged Deed of Fairhaven
A landmark land title dispute is settled in court after the discovery of a printing date discrepancy.
- The Deed Itself Said No Saloon
A Spokane land company wrote liquor prohibition into every lot in the new town of Irby, Washington — then quietly bought the surrounding countryside so nobody could open a bar next door.
- The Temperance Hall With a Deed That Wouldn't Let Go
A judge voids a ruling on the Good Templars' Columbia Street property, reopening a fight over a free library, a moral clause, and which court had the power to decide.
- Predatory Lending Against Tribal Land
Legal battle initiates to annul a property deed used as predatory collateral for a small cash loan.
- They Paid for Everett Lots and Found a Hidden Blanket Mortgage
A lawsuit against the Land and River Improvement Company showed how townsite speculation could leave buyers holding contracts that the company could not fulfill.
Also about this, in other words
- The Deed, the Railroad, and the Piles in North Seattle
A waterfront owner blocks railroad crews from driving piles in front of his North Seattle property while a right-of-way deed sits unsigned in New York.
- The Drummer’s Deed: A Tale of Lost Blocks and Mutual Recrimination
A traveling salesman thought he’d scored a bargain on Seattle real estate, only to discover his deed was for the wrong lot—and his seller had no idea either.
- The Dollar Deed: How a Husband’s ‘Gift’ to His Wife Cost Him His Land Claim
In a dispute over who settled first on public land, the Register of the Olympia Land Office ruled that W.S. Fish could not claim priority because he had technically transferred his donation claim to his wife for just one dollar.
- The Preacher, the Deed, and the Burning House
A small-town minister's affair with a married parishioner ends in arson, a whitewash trial, and an effigy swinging from an electric light pole in the heart of Oakesdale.
- A Blind Elder's Suit to Undo a Land Fraud
In 1889, Washington O-dit went to court to void a deed for 160 acres on the Ahtanum, saying it had been taken from him without his knowledge or consent.
- A Wife’s Legal Stand for Property Rights
When a sheriff attempted to seize a woman's water-rights machinery to satisfy her husband's debt, she fought back in court.
- The Real Estate Handshake: A Forgotten Legal Precedent
An 1889 court ruling from Kansas reverberated in Seattle, forcing a change in how developers and land brokers accounted for profits.
- A Saloon Debt, a Partnership, and a Judge’s Ruling on Fraud
A Tacoma liquor wholesaler tried to attach Olympia and Tenino saloons over $700; the court said the property shuffle wasn’t enough to prove fraudulent intent.