Appeals Court Reverses Lower Court's Decision Allowing Experimental Aircraft Association's Eviction From Felts Field

Sep. 8--A legal battle over whether the Experimental Aircraft Association gets to stay in its hangar at Felts Field has taken a major turn as appellate judges have reversed an earlier legal decision in favor of an eviction effort by the Spokane Airport Board. 

The association, a group of 150 members that offers training for aircraft construction, restoration and flight training, has been at Felts Field since the 1950s. The group had been occupying a hangar at Felts Field under a lease signed with the airport board in 2011. Both parties renewed the agreement in 2016, and the lease was supposed to last until 2021.

However, the board approached the association in 2017 about moving so it could demolish the hangar to make room for a new structure. Soon after, negotiations began to break down about how the EAA would exit the hangar.

When the association did not move out by an August 2017 deadline, the airport board "filed a complaint for unlawful detainer," which is a legal document alleging the group was unlawfully occupying the hangar.

"It attached its letters canceling the lease and extending the effective date of the cancellation," court documents say.

Attorney Milt Rowland, retained to represent the Experimental Aircraft Association, argued the airport board was in breach of the lease by prematurely canceling the lease and by refusing to relocate the group to a substitute hangar as previously agreed upon.

The counterclaim also alleged the airport board was relying on "cherry picked" language from a portion of the lease that states either party may cancel the agreement with 180 days advance notice.

The case went before Superior Court Judge John O. Cooney, who granted a summary judgement in favor of of the airport board's argument of right of possession, withheld judgement on the issues of damages and attorney fees.

The association appealed Cooney's decision to the Division III Court of Appeals, which ruled Aug. 4.

"Because the EAA was not a holdover tenant and the airport identifies no other basis under that statute for its request for relief, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to decide the right to possession," Judge Laurel Siddoway wrote in the unanimous decision for the three-judge panel.

Rowland said it's likely the association will pursue a claim against the airport board seeking damages, attorney's fees and a remedy to "make the organization whole again" by providing a hangar at Felts Field.

The airport board could seek another review of the case by appealing it to the Washington Supreme Court. However, the airport board's attorney, Lawrence Garvin, declined to say if the board would take that action.

The airport board is evaluating the Court of Appeals decision and is determining its next steps, Garvin said.

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