Physical Therapist Files Legal Challenge Against Leavenworth, Wa. for the Right to Run a Small In-home Practice

For more than 15 years, licensed physical therapist Nicole Bulow has helped people get back to the lives they love, guiding active adults through injury recovery, supporting women during pregnancy and postpartum, and treating chronic pain. She built her practice, SolFuel, around longer, more personalized sessions delivered from the comfort of home. But when Nicole moved to Leavenworth, Washington, to be near family and raise her own, town officials told her she could not do the very thing she had done for years: care for her patients at home.

Today, Nicole is fighting back. 

Represented by the Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit public interest law firm with an office in Seattle, she filed an appeal challenging Leavenworth’s decision to bar her home-based practice as arbitrary and unmoored from any legitimate zoning concern.

“Leavenworth’s own code makes clear that a quiet, low-impact home practice like Nicole’s is exactly the kind of work the home occupation ordinance was designed to allow,” said IJ Litigation Fellow Riley Grace Borden. “The town cannot pick winners and losers among identical home businesses.”

Leavenworth, a Bavarian-themed village nestled in the Cascade Mountains, is a haven for hikers, skiers, and outdoor adventurers—and Nicole was prepared to help ease the aches and pains that come with that active, mountain way of life. Before she ever applied for a permit, Nicole did her homework. She studied Leavenworth’s home occupation law, confirmed her small practice complied, planned to see only a handful of clients each day, and prepared a parking plan and floor diagram. She knew other home-based businesses—including massage practices—already operated in town with permits.

The town said no anyway. Although Leavenworth’s zoning code makes no mention of physical therapy, officials decided her work was “like or similar” to physicians, dentists, and chiropractors, all prohibited home occupations under the code. When Nicole asked why physical therapy was banned but massage therapy was not, the town pointed to her professional license, explaining that physical therapists are licensed healthcare providers who treat patients in a clinical setting.

That distinction does not hold up. Washington licenses massage therapists too, and many practice in clinical settings alongside physicians and physical therapists. Yet, the town freely allows them to work from home. Nicole’s practice would burden the neighborhood no more than the home businesses Leavenworth already permits. The refusal forced her to rent an office she never needed and spend her days away from the children she moved to Leavenworth to raise.

“Zoning isn’t about what happens inside a home—it’s about a property’s effects on its neighbors: traffic, parking, and noise,” said William Maurer, Managing Attorney of IJ’s Washington office. “The town drew a line that makes no sense. It bans Nicole’s practice but allows businesses that have the very same effects. Both the U.S. and Washington Constitutions forbid that kind of arbitrary line drawing.”

“I did everything the town asked and confirmed my practice followed the rules before I ever applied,” said Nicole Bulow. “All I want is to care for my patients the way I always have and be there for my kids. The town lets my neighbors run nearly identical businesses from home. There’s no reason I should be treated differently.”

The Institute for Justice is a nonprofit public interest law firm that defends the constitutional rights of Americans. Nicole’s case is part of IJ’s Zoning Justice Project, which aims to protect and promote the freedom to use property.