Columbia Community Bank v. Newman Park, LLC

¶1 The goal of equity is to do substantial justice. Equity exists to protect the interests of deserving parties from the “ ‘harshness of strict legal rules.’ ”1 Washington courts embrace a long and robust tradition of applying the doctrine of equity.2

¶2 The question here is whether equitable subrogation — a species of equity developed to prevent unjust enrichment — is available to a lender to ameliorate the otherwise harsh consequence of a strict reading of the recording act, chapter 65.08 RCW. Specifically, in this case, the issue is whether a lender who is tricked into refinancing property…