Treble damages

Key Takeaways

• Treble damages are a court award of three times the plaintiff's actual damages.
• Under Washington's Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19.86.090, the trebling is discretionary and the increase for an unfair or deceptive practice claim may not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars.
• Timber trespass works the opposite way: RCW 64.12.030 says any judgment for the plaintiff shall be for treble the amount of damages claimed or assessed, with no dollar cap.
• A Consumer Protection Act plaintiff can also recover the costs of suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee, and can ask the superior court to enjoin further violations.

What It Means

Treble damages are a court award of three times a plaintiff's proven losses. Treble simply means triple. Ordinary contract and tort damages are compensatory, meant to put the injured party back where they started. Treble damages go past that on purpose, to punish the conduct and to make a lawsuit worth filing when the underlying loss is small. They are different from Liquidated Damages, which the parties agree to in advance inside the contract itself.

Courts do not award them on their own initiative. A statute has to authorize the tripling, and each statute sets its own terms. Some make trebling mandatory, so a judge has no discretion once liability is established. Others make it discretionary and cap how much the court may add. Washington has clear examples of both, which is why the specific statute behind a claim matters far more than the label.

For a licensee the exposure is real. An unfair or deceptive practice in the conduct of trade or commerce can support a claim under the Consumer Protection Act, and that claim carries a possible tripling, attorney's fees, and injunctive relief on top of the actual loss. That risk is a standard reason brokerages carry errors and omissions coverage.

How It Works in Washington

Two Washington statutes show the range. The Consumer Protection Act is the one licensees hear about most. RCW 19.86.090 lets any person injured in their business or property by a violation bring a civil action in superior court to enjoin further violations, to recover the actual damages sustained, or both, together with the costs of the suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee. The statute then adds that the court may, in its discretion, increase the award of damages up to an amount not to exceed three times the actual damages sustained, and that the increased damage award for a violation of RCW 19.86.020, the unfair or deceptive practices section, may not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars.

Damage to land works differently. RCW 64.12.030 provides that whenever a person cuts down, girdles, or otherwise injures or carries off a tree, timber, or shrub on the land of another without lawful authority, any judgment for the plaintiff shall be for treble the amount of damages claimed or assessed. That tripling is mandatory and uncapped. RCW 4.24.630 reaches further, making a person who goes onto another's land and removes timber, crops, or minerals, or wrongfully causes waste or injury to the land, liable for treble the amount of the damages caused, plus investigative costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. That section defines acting wrongfully as intentionally and unreasonably committing the act while knowing, or having reason to know, of the lack of authorization.

A civil treble damages claim is also separate from license discipline. The same conduct can draw a lawsuit and a Department Of Licensing complaint at the same time.

Example

Priya Nandel hires a landscaping crew to clear brush along the back of her Bellingham lot. The crew cuts eleven mature cedars that sit on the neighboring parcel owned by Sam Whitfield. An arborist values the trees and the restoration work at $34,000.

Because the cutting happened on Sam's land without lawful authority, RCW 64.12.030 applies and the judgment is for treble the damages, or $102,000. The court has no discretion to award less and no dollar cap applies. Compare that with a consumer protection claim. If Sam had instead sued a broker under RCW 19.86.090 over the same $34,000 loss, the court could increase the award, but the increase for an unfair or deceptive practice claim is limited to twenty-five thousand dollars. The most Sam could collect as damages would be $59,000, plus his costs of suit and a reasonable attorney's fee.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• Treble damages are three times actual damages, not actual damages plus three times, and not three times the contract price.
• Consumer Protection Act trebling is discretionary and the increase is capped at twenty-five thousand dollars. Timber trespass trebling under RCW 64.12.030 is mandatory and uncapped.
• Treble damages must be authorized by a statute. A court cannot triple an ordinary breach of contract award simply because the conduct was bad.
• The twenty-five thousand dollar limit in RCW 19.86.090 caps the increase the court may add, not the plaintiff's actual damages. Actual damages are still recovered in full on top of the capped increase.