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76 stories matching lien
- The $3 Million Scheme to Turn Seattle's Tide Flats into Dry Land
A private company plans to dredge the Duwamish and fill Elliott Bay's mudflats — paid not in cash but in land and liens — while St. Louis money waits to see the ground before it bets.
- The Law That Vanished Overnight
When a new legislative act replaced the state's logger's lien law, it inadvertently vaporized the legal standing of workers fighting for their unpaid wages.
- New Law Empowers Workers to Claim Liens
A significant legislative act passes, allowing laborers and material providers to secure their pay through property liens.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- Land Office Cuts Northern Pacific Claims by One-Third
A government intervention restores a third of Northern Pacific's land claims in Washington to the public domain, sparking a bitter feud between settlers and the railroad.
- The Right to Get Paid
A landmark Washington Supreme Court ruling secures the rights of loggers to file collective liens against timber companies.
- The Logger’s Right to be Paid
A landmark Supreme Court decision upholds the right of loggers to place liens on timber they harvested, shielding laborers from corporate efforts to dodge payroll.
- The Birth of Mechanic's Liens in Washington Territory
A landmark 1854 statute established the right for laborers to place liens on buildings and land to ensure they were paid for their work.
- Homesteaders Fight Railroad Land Grab
Settlers at Opera Hall band together to challenge the railroad company's claim to the land they built their homes on.
- The Right to Water: A Legal Win for Landowners
A landmark court ruling frees White Bluffs landowners from paying for irrigation water they did not use, potentially signaling the end for the local water company.
- Loggers Win Right to Collective Lien
A landmark state supreme court decision empowers loggers to file collective liens against companies for unpaid wages.
- Workers File Liens to Secure Unpaid Wages
Employees of two local businesses resort to legal action to ensure they are paid for their labor.
- Logging Camp Cook Sues for Back Pay
After cooking for a crew and cutting 140,000 feet of timber, a camp cook files a lien on the logs themselves to recover his unpaid wages.
- A Revolver at Her Ear: Mary Steel's Third Fight for a Divorce
Mary Steel's third divorce suit against David H. Steel laid bare a bitter fight over $49,000 in Seattle and Montana property—and allegations of violence, control and intimidation.
- The Grading Debt That Never Was
A judge rules that Seattle property owners don't have to pay for street improvements that the city never actually finished.
- The Disappearing Developer
A local real estate operator vanishes, leaving behind a trail of dishonored checks, uncompleted houses, and angry creditors across Tacoma.
- The Tax Collector’s Secret: How Seattle Officials Hid Debts to Profit from Advertising
A local newspaper exposes a scheme where the School District collector withheld tax information, forcing taxpayers to pay exorbitant advertising fees to clear liens they didn't know existed.
- The Diamond Palace Jeweler Who Vanished With the Stock
Simon Rumpf’s 'Diamond Palace' is placed in receivership after creditors allege he conspired to transfer his stock and then disappeared.
- The Lawyer Who Pocketed the Property
A Supreme Court ruling exposes a shady real estate scheme involving a local attorney and a disputed Tacoma property.
- The Price of a Lien: Laborers Shortchanged in Log Sale
After months of legal delays, loggers find their hard-earned wages swallowed by legal fees and court costs.
- The Ship That Smuggled Opium: How a Legal Loophole Freed a Vessel and $13,000 in Penalties
Judge Hanford rules that the steamer *Walla Walla* is not liable for contraband found in its cargo because the master lacked knowledge of the smuggling, setting a precedent for common carriers.
- The Great Tax Delinquency Scramble
A new revenue law threatens to wipe out old tax liens, forcing officials to chase down thousands of property owners to clear the county books before the November deadline.
- A Cabinet Pick Sparks a Land War in Whitman County
Fifty-six farmers south of Colfax protested Hoke Smith’s appointment as interior secretary, saying the Northern Pacific was taking title to land they had settled and cultivated.
- The Mill That Vanished Before Its Workers Got Paid
Kent mill hands won wage liens, then found the company's assets allegedly shifted to a new corporation—and the sheriff returning 'No property found.'
- The High Price of Homesteading
A local lumber company leverages a housing-shortage pitch to sell building plans, even as court notices reveal the brutal reality of tax-foreclosure cycles for local settlers.