The 5 year leases with automatic renewals and companies that you have to fight through litigation to get their washer and dryer out of your place.

Then I'd be glad to have him gone and focus on the next tenant...If he really damaged the place (and you know from my application he has some financial means), then you may want to have a landlord tenant lawyer or general practitioner look at the exact next steps for the eviction or civil lawsuit.

These are quasi-criminal code violations, not civil claims.

Definitely set up an entity to hold your assets, but your best bet will be to avoid litigation unless at least $100,000 is at risk.  

Does anybody have an awesome Civil Engineer that they are super happy with for doing short platting in Seattle/King County area?

Code fines become civil judgements and judgements follow you and ruin your credit report and being "up to code" is essentially a brand new house, so when you buy old housing stock, you run that risk.

Both "Notice of Default" (non-judicial states) and "Notice of Lis Pendens" (pending litigation, judicial states) seem to have a publication requirement.

I also explained or pointed out that the consequences usually arise from torts and civil cases, your "predatory actions" put you into these situations.   

I was told by someone who is a property manager that certain condo's in my area were under litigation and to make sure that if I were to want to purchase a condo for investment, make sure I knew what was going on with them.What do you mean "can be an issue when one decide to keep buying rental properties one after the other"?

This way (LLC) you can also limit your exposure to any litigation that may come your way from other 3 tenants.