In Frias v. Asset Foreclosure Services, Inc., the Washington Supreme Court held that the state law does not recognize an independent cause of action for monetary damages based on alleged violations of the Deeds of Trust Act (DTA), Chapter 61.24 RCW, when no foreclosure sale has been completed. However, under some circumstances DTA violations may be actionable under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). The decision overrules, in part, Walker v. Quality Loan Serv. Corp., 176 Wn. App. 294 (2013), where Division One of the Court of Appeals concluded that a cause of action for monetary damages exists under both DTA and CPA for alleged DTA violations. The Supreme Court reiterated that a CPA plaintiff is not required to establish quantifiable monetary loss to meet the CPA prong of injury to “business or property.” The plaintiff homeowner, whose home was in foreclosure, alleged that numerous illegal fees had been added to her debt. Even though she had not paid those fees, expenses incurred in investigating their legality may be sufficient to bring a CPA action.
