If the landlord lives in wyoming and rental property was in washington state what court do i file lawsuit in

I am a lawyer practicing in Colorado and New York. You will need to speak with a lawyer or Small Claims Court Official in Spokane, WA to see what the Small Claims rules are for jurisdiction over claims brought in their City Court. There may be a way to get jurisdiction over the Defendant based upon his doing business, and/or his ownership of rental property in Spokane. That way he will either be forced to appear in that Court or you will be awarded a default judgement. If the landlord refuses to pay, the Judgement, or a Transcript of that Judgement obtained from the Court should then be filed in the office where real estate property records are kept in the county where the renatal property is. This is typically the County Clerk or Registrar of Records. That will place a lien on the rental home and should be enough to get him to pay voluntarily. The lien would prevent the Landlord from selling or refinancing the property without paying you the judgement amount plus interest. If he still refuses to pay, you can seek to garnish his bank accounts, or wages. If you paid rent by check and he deposited the checks, you can look at the back of the checks to discover possible banks and account numbers you can have the sherrif garnish within WA. That would be the easiest way to garnish the recovery. Out of state garnishment of accounts or wages would likely require that you get a judgement in WY, which brings us back to the initail problem. Of course, you could just start out by sueing him where he lives in WY, but that would seem cost prohibitive. I hope this is of help to you.

If the house is in WA, WA courts will have jurisdiction.

Failure to return a deposit or provide an accounting for it within the statutory time is generally not good for the landlord. Among other things, the court can order the landlord to pay attorney's fees for the tenant who brings a successful action.

Chapter 59.18 RCW (Residential landlord-tenant act) can be found here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18 .

Given that you can get attorney's fees if you win, you may want to review your facts and options with an attorney. Depending on your facts, your attorney may ask that you pay the attorney money first.

If you win, a lien can be placed against the house. You likely will get your money back eventually.

You can probably get what is called "long-arm" jurisdiction as the landlord is certainly doing business in Washington.

Also, out-of-state Landlords renting in Washington are required to have a local agent in the same county the property is located. RCW 59.18.060(14).

Look at your lease. Does it have a statement as to venue and/or choice of law?

If you prevail in court you are entitled to attorney’s fees. I know of cases over deposits of one or two thousand dollars that went against the landlord and the attorney’s fees awarded to the tenant exceeded that amount many times over.

You mentioned that the landlord acknowledged that you left the property in good condition. Was this in writing? The landlord is required to give you a written statement explaining the retention of any deposit funds. Did you receive such a statement?

If you can prove the landlord intentionally withheld the deposit the court may award double the deposit amount.

If you have proper documentation an attorney might take this on a contingency fee basis. I might, even though I am not in your geographical area.