Recent Articles
Seattle’s Newest Residential Developer by Michael J. Yelle
On February 14, 2023, Seattle voters passed Initiative 135, creating the “Seattle Social Housing Developer” (“Public Developer” or “PD”) and the initiative was signed into …
Court of Appeals Issues Decision Regarding Second-Tier Subcontractors and Pre-Lien Notice
Velazquez Framing, LLC (“Velazquez”) v. Cascadia Homes, Inc. (“Cascadia”) is a Court of Appeals, Division 2 case where the primary issue on appeal was whether …
Recent Supreme Court Decision Could Have Substantial Impact on Builders
On October 27, 2022, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a decision which could have a substantial impact on the enforceability of contract clauses that …
Cydney joined the firm in 2015 as a Legal Assistant, then transitioned to Paralegal in 2016. She has experience preparing and responding to discovery requests, legal documents, and correspondence, and managing cases in various courts, as well as in mediation and trials. She is proficient in electronic discovery, including document collection and preparation, review and production.
Education
- Paralegal Certificate – University of Washington, 2016
- B.A. in Human Services – Western Washington University, 2013
Representative Work
- Integral part of the team for national general contractor client in complex litigation on the Nexus high-rise condominium project. ACS brought claims against the Owner for foreclosure of its construction lien, breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, and quantum meruit. Contractor’s claims were in excess of $20M, including compensation for 187 unresolved change issues, time extensions and compensation for excusable delays, recovery of additional and expanded general conditions and general requirements, and pass through of discrete subcontractor claims. Owner withheld compensation of contract balance and brought numerous counterclaims seeking recovery of liquidated damages in excess of $4M, as well as other contract and tort-based damages. We successfully dismissed Owner’s tort claims and limited Owner’s recovery through summary judgment motions prior to trial. Notably, we used key contract provisions to obtain a ruling prior to trial that Owner could not assess liquidated damages for periods of insured delay. The case was tried virtually for 7 weeks/28 trial days before a 12-person King County Superior Court jury, which awarded our general contractor client 97% of its claimed damages and rejected 93% of the Owner’s damages. The jury found that the Owner breached the contract and the duty of good faith and fair dealing and that quantum meruit was proven. Post-trial, we obtained judgment on the jury verdict , foreclosed the lien, and obtained an award for our client’s attorneys’ fees, costs and expert expenses resulting in a final judgment against the Owner in excess of $30M. Due to our timely recording a lien in advance of any unit closings and resulting bonding of the lien for all sold units, the judgment was promptly collected from the lien release bond surety and Owner pending the Owner’s appeal of the judgment. ACS will defend the massive jury award through appeal.