Hinton v. Johnson

James Hinton, an unregistered contractor, entered into an oral contract with Keith Johnson to work on Johnson’s large residential real estate development. When Johnson refused to pay Hinton for work performed in 1991, Hinton filed a lien and later filed an action for breach of contract and to foreclose the lien. The trial court dismissed Hinton’s claims based upon the bar against claims by unregistered contractors in the contractor’s registration act, chapter 18.27 RCW (CRA). The CRA does not apply to actions between contractors. Because Johnson was regularly engaged in the business of…