If upon trial of such action it shall appear that the trespass was casual or involuntary, or that the defendant had probable cause to believe that the land on which such trespass was committed was his or her own, or that of the person in whose service or by whose direction the act was done, or that such tree or timber was taken from uninclosed [unenclosed] woodlands, for the purpose of repairing any public highway or bridge upon the land or adjoining it, judgment shall only be given for single damages.
RCW 64.12.040
Mitigating circumstances—Damages.
Applied in 32 court decisions — leading case 89 Wash. 2d 190 - Seattle-First National Bank v. Brommers (1977)
Most recently applied in Rebecca Thorley & Monica Baxter v. Donald E. Nowlin, et ux (January 2024)
2012 c 117 s 193; Code 1881 s 603; 1877 p 125 s 608; 1869 p 143 s 557; RRS s 940.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.