Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 901791.pdf

arrangements and provides flexibility by preserving the option of less formal,

shorter-term arrangements that can be adjusted to allow economic viability in the

face of changing conditions. Of course, if a landlord drafts a long-term lease and

then seeks to avoid honoring that lease because it violates the statute of frauds, the

MHLTA's "obligation of good faith" would be implicated. 2 RCW 59.20.020.

From the perspective of tenant protection, the statute of frauds' requirement

of an acknowledged signature is not an empty formality or a bureaucratic hoop to

jump through. It requires an authorized, uninterested third party to certify that the

person to be bound by a contract is (1) the person who actually signs it and (2)

2
Tison's assertion that "[l]andlords typically do not leave room for any such acknowledgment on
the standard rental agreement forms provided by the Manufactured Housing Communities of
Washington" apparently relies on factual information outside the record. Suppl. Br. ofResp't at
8. Moreover, Tison's argument ignores the fact that acknowledgement may be either "written
upon or annexed to the instrument acknowledged." RCW 64.08.050 (emphasis added). Finally,
the preprinted lease form in this case did not include any terms over one year, and even if it did,
an industry cannot override legislation by simply ignoring it in practice.

7
             
Western Plaza, LLC v. Tison, No. 90179-1
Yu, J. (dissenting)

entering the contract "freely and voluntarily." RCW 64.08.050; see also RCW

42.44.010(4) (defining "acknowledgement" as "a statement by a person that the

person has executed an instrument as the person's free and voluntary act"). A