Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — D2 51946-1-II Published Opinion.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — D2 51946-1-II Published Opinion.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Source verification: official_capture_completeness_unverified
Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/D2%2051946-1-II%20Published%20Opinion.pdf ↗

Related Parts of This Source

Full Text

1,778 chars

Whether a written instrument has legal efficacy involves the interpretation of that

instrument. “The interpretation to be given written instruments, whether the procedure be civil

or criminal is a matter of law for the court, and not a question of fact for the jury.” State v.

3
The court in Hill also cited to Scoby, 117 Wn.2d at 63, and State v. Aitken, 79 Wn. App. 890,
892-95, 905 P.2d 1235 (1995). But neither case addressed whether the legal efficacy question
was one for the trial court or for the jury.

13
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
No. 51946-1-II

Comer, 176 Wash. 257, 266, 28 P.2d 1027 (1934); see also In re Estate of Larson, 71 Wn.2d

349, 354, 428 P.2d 558 (1967). “Questions of law are for the court, not the jury, to resolve.”

Miller, 156 Wn.2d at 31. And legal efficacy of an instrument involves issues that are “uniquely

within the province of the court.” Id.

This is particularly true for a document like a bank account application. The jury would

have no basis for determining whether a bank account application has legal efficacy. Such a

determination requires a legal analysis that could be performed only by the trial court.

Treating legal efficacy as a legal issue is consistent with the case law. Almost all of the

reported legal efficacy cases address sufficiency of the evidence challenges. State v. Haislip, 77

Wn.2d 838, 842, 467 P.2d 284 (1970); State v. Taes, 5 Wn.2d 51, 53-54, 104 P.2d 751 (1940);

Bradshaw, 3 Wn. App. 2d at 189-90; Smith, 72 Wn. App. at 239; State v. Aitken, 79 Wn. App.

890, 893-94, 905 P.2d 1235 (1995); State v. Stiltner, 4 Wn. App. 33, 36-38, 479 P.2d 103 (1971).

In all these cases, the appellate court essentially determined as a matter of law whether an