← All filing guides

King County District Court — civil suit

This is general information, not legal advice. Filing a lawsuit has real steps and deadlines; consider consulting an attorney.

Is this the right court for you?

Your claim	Where to file
$10,000 or less if you file as an individual $5,000 or less if an LLC or other entity files	You may prefer Small Claims (simpler, ~$50, no lawyers on either side).
Above the small-claims limit, up to $100,000	District Court, Civil Division (this guide).
Larger claims or requests for injunctions/receivership	Superior Court, generally with an attorney.

Own your property through an LLC? The plaintiff is whoever signed the management agreement. If your LLC signed it, the LLC is the plaintiff. Small claims for an LLC is capped at $5,000 (RCW 12.40.010). Outside small claims, an LLC or other entity generally must be represented by an attorney; individuals can file on their own behalf without a lawyer.

Why name the individual as well as the company

Owners have chosen to name both the company and its principal individually, so that any judgment can reach the responsible party and not only a company that has ceased operating. Whether to do so is your decision; many owners consult an attorney on this point.

The three documents you file to start a case

Complaint — states who did what and what you are owed.
Case Information Cover Sheet — a one-page court form.
Summons — the official notice giving defendants a deadline to respond.

Formatting matters (Washington GR 14) — get this right or the clerk may reject your filing

Letter-size (8.5 × 11), white paper, black text, printed one side.
First page: top margin at least 3 inches (leaves room for the court's stamp). This is the most common rejection reason.
All other margins (sides, bottom, and top of later pages): at least 1 inch.
12-point font, 1.5 line spacing. No color, no highlighting.

Step by step (e-filing)

Go to the King County District Court e-Filing portal (kcdc-efiling.kingcounty.gov). Register as a Registered Public User, verify your email, and log in. (Filing from abroad? The portal may block foreign IPs — use a U.S.-based VPN or a U.S.-based helper.)
File a New Case → Civil Case Initiation.
Location: choose the division covering the property or the company's Seattle office.
Cause of Action: select 411110 – Breach of Contract. (Your complaint can state additional claims; this is just the docket category.)
Amount of Claim: your total. Consumer Debt: No.
Plaintiff Information: your name and mailing address.
Defendant Information: add the company in one panel (Company Name only). Then use the "+" (Add new panel) button to add a second defendant panel for the individual (name fields only, company blank). Two separate defendants.
Upload your three documents to their slots: Complaint, Case Information Cover Sheet, Summons — each "Filed By: Plaintiff." You can sign electronically by typing /s/ Your Name on the signature line.
Pay the filing fee (the District Court civil filing fee is approximately $83; fee-waiver applications are available for financial hardship). You receive a case number.

Preparing your Complaint and Summons

The Cover Sheet is a fill-in court form. The Complaint and Summons are documents you prepare. Below are plain templates. Replace every [bracket] with your own facts — do not file another owner's numbers or details as your own. If you are unsure about the legal claims, consider having an attorney review your Complaint before filing.

Format all documents to GR 14 (above): 3-inch first-page top margin, 1-inch other margins, 12-point font, 1.5 spacing, white paper.

Download a blank template (.txt)

Before you file, search your document for the [ character. Every square bracket in these templates is a placeholder you must replace. Documents have been filed with [DIVISION] and [TOTAL AMOUNT] still in them. A clerk may reject it, and if it gets through, the error is in the court record.

The Complaint — template

IN THE KING COUNTY DISTRICT COURT, STATE OF WASHINGTON
[DIVISION] DIVISION

[YOUR NAME(S)], Plaintiff(s),
v.                                          No. __________
DWELLINGS SEATTLE, INC., a Washington corporation;
and [PRINCIPAL NAME], individually, Defendants.

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES

I. PARTIES
   - Who you are (owner of [property address]).
   - Dwellings Seattle, Inc. is a Washington corporation
     (UBI 604 007 760, 3806 California Ave SW, Seattle).
   - [Principal] is listed in Secretary of State records as a
     governor/president who, on information and belief, controlled
     the company's trust account.

II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE
   - Amount in controversy is $[amount], within District Court limits
     and not over $100,000.
   - Venue proper in King County because the property is here, the
     events occurred here, and Defendant Dwellings Seattle, Inc.'s
     office is in Seattle.

III. FACTS
   - The date of your Property Management Agreement.
   - That it required the company to collect rent, hold it in trust,
     and remit it monthly less its fee.
   - That your tenants paid rent.
   - That the company collected [months] rent and did not remit it.
   - The amount owed.
   - That you demanded payment in writing on [date] and terminated on
     [date], and that no payment or accounting followed.

IV. CAUSES OF ACTION  (state each in its own short paragraph)
   1. Breach of Contract (against the company).
   2. Conversion (against both).
   3. Breach of Fiduciary Duty (against both — the company was your
      agent holding your funds in trust).
   4. Money Had and Received (against both).

V. PRAYER FOR RELIEF
   - Judgment against both defendants, jointly and severally, for
     $[amount]; prejudgment interest; costs and any attorney's fees
     allowed; and other relief the court finds just.

Dated: [date]
/s/ [Your Name]
[your address]
[your phone]   [your email]

Owners have included the conversion and fiduciary-duty claims because, unlike a plain contract claim, they can attach to the individual. Some debts of this kind are not wiped out in bankruptcy, but that is decided by the bankruptcy court case by case. Whether to plead these claims is your decision; consider legal advice.

The Summons — template

[Same caption as the Complaint.]

TO THE DEFENDANTS: A lawsuit has been started against you. To defend,
you must respond to the Complaint in writing and serve a copy on the
plaintiff(s) within 20 days after service of this Summons (60 days if
served outside Washington), or a default judgment may be entered
against you. If you serve a notice of appearance, you are entitled to
notice before default. You may demand that the plaintiff(s) file this
lawsuit with the court; that demand must be in writing and served on
the plaintiff(s), and within 14 days after service the plaintiff(s)
must file, or service is void. If you wish to consult an attorney, do
so promptly. This Summons is issued under RCW 4.28 and CRLJ 4.

Dated: [date]
/s/ [Your Name]
Address where the defendant must serve their response:
[your address]

Tip: many owners in the group prepared these by starting from a shared template and substituting their own case facts. Ask the group for the current template rather than starting from a blank page.

After you file: serving the defendants (required)

Filing opens the case; it does not notify the defendants. Once the court accepts your filing and returns a stamped Summons, the defendants must be served. Serve within 90 days of filing, or the filing may not stop the limitations clock (RCW 4.16.170). Owners in the group coordinate service together through a shared process server to split the cost — a first batch has already been served and more are being organized. If you're a member, see the portal and the group chat for the current batch and instructions.

You cannot serve the papers yourself. Under CRLJ 4(c) the server must be at least 18, competent to be a witness, and not a party to the action. Use a process server (about $50–150 per defendant individually, though owners who have coordinated a single shared service have paid considerably less per person), or any qualified non-party adult.
Serving the individual. Personal service. If he cannot be found after documented diligent attempts, the court may permit service by mail or publication.
Serving the company. RCW 23B.05.040 and RCW 4.28.080(8) both direct you to RCW 23.95.450, which sets out the methods in order: (1) serve the registered agent — for Dwellings Seattle, Inc. the registered agent of record is the company itself, at its registered office; (2) if the entity has no registered agent or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the principal office shown in the entity's most recent annual report — service is effected on the earliest of actual receipt, the date on an executed return receipt, or five days after deposit; (3) if those fail, hand delivery to the individual in charge of a regular place of business, if that person is not a plaintiff; (4) only then, the Secretary of State. Note that step 2 is service in its own right, not a formality on the way to step 4. Owners have reported mail to the registered office returned undeliverable; whether that still counts as "correctly addressed" under (2)(c) is worth asking a lawyer.
Get the capacity right on the return of service. Each defendant needs its own return, and the corporate one should state the capacity in which the papers were accepted. This is the detail a lawyer would attack years later if a default judgment is ever challenged.
File proof of service. After service, file the affidavit of service with the court. Until it is on file, the court has no record that service happened.

If the defendant does not respond

If the defendant does not respond (a common outcome), you may file a Motion for Default Judgment, attaching your evidence (agreement, ledgers, demand letters) to prove your damages. A judgment can then be recorded and enforced. A Washington judgment can be enforced for 10 years, and you can apply to the court within the last 90 days of that period to extend it once for another 10 years (RCW 6.17.020).

Useful identifiers (public record)

Dwellings Seattle, Inc., UBI #604 007 760, registered office 3806 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116; the individual principal is listed in Secretary of State records as a governor and president of the company.

Connect with other owners