Matson v. Emory

This case presents an issue previously unconsidered in the developing law of the right of first refusal in Washington: what the holder of a right of first refusal (right) must do to match a third party property exchange offer. We affirm the trial court's declaratory judgment terminating the defendants' right and hold that an all-cash offer is a substantial variation on a good faith property exchange offer.

Ms. Bertha Thompson died in January 1979, and left the subject property to her longtime tenant, Merle Teare, the third party defendant in this case. In 1969 Thompson sold a portion of the…