Dahl-Smyth, Inc. v. City of Walla Walla

This case requires us to determine how “measurable damages” should be calculated when a city annexes territory covered by the certificate of a private solid waste collection company. Former RCW 35A. 14.900 (1996) provides that when a city annexes territory, the city may allow the territory’s garbage hauler to continue to serve the territory for five years.1 If the city so chooses, the city must pay “any measurable damages as a result of any annexation.” RCW 35A. 14.900. The Court of Appeals held that “measurable damages” do not include the loss in value to *838the certificate and that such…