Gonz lez , J. 1 Admission to the practice of law requires years of graduate level study either with a practicing lawyer or at a law school. It requires passage of a rigorous bar examination on a wide range of topics. In addition, bar applicants must satisfy character and fitness requirements. Once admitted, lawyers join a noble profession and become officers of the court, obligated to conduct themselves ethically under the Rules of Professional Conduct. When lawyers break the rules,...
STEPHENS , C.J. 1 This case concerns a novel rule promulgated by the Department of Ecology to address the undeniable crisis of climate change. The issue is not whether man-made climate change is real—it is. See generally INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL WARMING OF 1.5 C (2019) [https://perma.cc/W2LS-DJQL]. Nor is the issue whether dramatic steps are needed to curb the worst effects of climate change—they are. Id. Instead, this case asks whether the Washington Clean...
GORDON McCLOUD , J. 1 King County enacted a first-of-its-kind ordinance that requires electric, gas, water, and sewer utilities to pay for the right to use the county's rights-of-way, a right known as a franchise. King County refers to its planned charge as "franchise compensation," and the amount charged is based on an estimate of the franchise's value. If the county and utility cannot agree on an amount, the county will bar the utility from using its rights-of-way. 2 This case...
STEPHENS , J. 1 Respondent Evergreen Freedom Foundation (Foundation) filed a Public Records Act (PRA), chapter 42.56 RCW, request for the names and addresses of individuals who provide subsidized childcare under Washington's Working Connections Child Care program (WCCC). After the Foundation filed its request but before any records were released, voters passed an initiative exempting those names and addresses from PRA coverage and prohibiting agencies from releasing them. The question...
STEPHENS , J. 1 Petitioner Freedom Foundation (Foundation) filed a public records request for records relating to union organizing by several University of Washington (UW) faculty members. The UW asked one of these faculty members to search his e-mail accounts for responsive records and, after reviewing those records, gave notice that it intended to release many of them in the absence of an injunction. Respondent Service Employees International Union 925 (Union) initiated an action in...
FAIRHURST , C.J. 1 In this case, we consider whether a crime victim's statements to his medical providers were testimonial and, if so, whether their admission at trial violated the defendant's right of confrontation under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1 We hold that the victim's statements in this case were nontestimonial because they were not made with the primary purpose of creating an out-of-court substitute for trial testimony. We separately hold that there...
YU , J. 1 This case addresses the standards and procedures that apply when trial courts must determine whether an evidentiary hearing is necessary on a motion for a new trial based on allegations that jury deliberations were tainted by racial bias. We recognize that when allegations of juror misconduct arise after the verdict, trial courts have discretion to determine whether an evidentiary hearing is necessary. However, there are limits to that discretion, particularly in cases of...
GORDON McCLOUD , J. 1 The United States Supreme Court has tasked us with deciding whether the Washington courts violated the United States Constitution's guaranty of religious neutrality in our prior adjudication of this case. We have fully reviewed the record with this issue in mind, and we have considered substantial new briefing devoted to this topic. We now hold that the answer to the Supreme Court's question is no: the adjudicatory bodies that considered this case did not act with...
OWENS , J. 1 Time Rikat Meippen was a juvenile when he was convicted in adult court of first degree assault, first degree robbery, and second degree unlawful possession of a firearm. The trial court sentenced Meippen to the top of the standard sentencing range and imposed a firearm sentence enhancement. Several years after Meippen's sentencing, this court decided State v. Houston-Sconiers. 1 In Houston-Sconiers, this court held that when sentencing a juvenile in adult court, a trial...
Gonz lez , J. 1 We are asked to decide whether, in the absence of a prior interlocal agreement, a county is entitled to seek reimbursement from cities for the cost of medical services provided to jail inmates who were (1) arrested by city officers and (2) held in the county jail on felony charges. We conclude it is not and accordingly affirm. BACKGROUND 2 In Washington State, cities, towns, and counties are empowered to enact criminal codes, employ law enforcement officers, and operate...
Gonz lez , J. 1 It is generally not murder to kill another in self-defense. It may not be murder — though it is often a serious crime — to kill another by accident. Michael Henderson shot and killed Abubakar Abdi during an argument. Henderson was charged with felony murder based on second degree assault with a deadly weapon. Henderson contended that while acting in self-defense, he accidentally killed Abdi. The jury was instructed on the defense of justifiable homicide. The trial...
OWENS , J. 1 This case asks us to determine the geographic scope of permitting authority delegated to the State of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (Department) over hydraulic projects. A "hydraulic project" is defined as "the construction or performance of work that will use, divert, obstruct, or change the natural flow or bed of any of the salt or freshwaters of the state." RCW 77.55.011(11). Entities seeking to undertake hydraulic projects must apply for and obtain permits...
STEPHENS , J. 1 This case presents a question of first impression: whether Washington should adopt the so-called "apparent manufacturer" doctrine for common law product liability claims predating the 1981 product liability and tort reform act (WPLA), ch. 7.72 RCW. As set forth in the Restatement (Second) of Torts 400 (Am. Law Inst. 1965), this doctrine provides that "[o]ne who puts out as his own product a chattel manufactured by another is subject to the same liability as though he...
GORDON McCLOUD , J. 1 The city of Olympia (City) contracted with NOVA Contracting Inc. to replace a deteriorating culvert. Their contract contained a "notice of protest" provision, standard specification section 1-04.5 (Section 1-04.5), taken from the Washington State Department of Transportation's Standard Specifications for Road, Bridge, and Municipal Construction (2012), www.wsdot.wa.gov/publications/manuals/fulltext/M41-10/ss2012.pdf [https://perma.cc./77X9-Z593]. See Clerk's...
JOHNSON , J. 1 In this case, we are asked to decide whether Department of Ecology's current waste discharge permitting process complies with RCW 90.48.520's requirement for "permit conditions [to] require all known, available, and reasonable methods to control toxicants in the applicant's wastewater." (Emphasis added.) No disagreement exists that Ecology uses the most sensitive testing method federally approved to monitor permit compliance. The issue in this case is whether RCW 90.48....
GORDON McCLOUD , J. 1 The Land Use Petition Act (LUPA), chapter 36.70C RCW, bars parties from challenging a local land use decision in state court if the parties fail to exhaust the administrative process. RCW 36.70C.030. The central issue in this case is (1) whether that administrative exhaustion rule applies to all tort claims that arise during the land use decision-making process. The other issues are (2) whether there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's finding of a...
MADSEN , J. 1 Kevin Light-Roth was convicted of second degree murder in 2004, and the trial court sentenced him to 335 months' confinement. In an untimely personal restraint petition (PRP), Light-Roth argued that State v. O'Dell, 183 Wn.2d 680 , 358 P.3d 359 (2015), constitutes a significant and material change in the law that applies retroactively to his sentence, excepting him from RCW 10.73.100's time bar. In O'Dell, this court held while "age is not a per se mitigating...
JOHNSON , J. 1 This case involves review of a trial court "to convict" attempted first degree robbery instruction. Petitioner Edward Nelson contends that the State had to prove that the employee he was attempting to rob had ownership, representative, or possessory interest in the property. For this proposition he relies on the holding in State v. Richie 1 and argues that this "essential element" of representative or possessory interest should have been included in the "to convict"...
WIGGINS , J. 1 We decide here two important aspects of the work product doctrine. First, were the e-mails exchanged between the Kittitas County and the Department of Ecology work product Second, if the e-mails are work product, are they discoverable under the Public Records Act (PRA), chapter 42.56 RCW We hold that the e-mails are work product because they were prepared by or for Kittitas County in anticipation of litigation. Second, we hold that Kittitas County did not waive its...
YU , J. 1 The Washington Minimum Wage Act (MWA), chapter 49.46 RCW, requires employers to compensate employees for their work. This case asks us to apply that general principle to the specific context of agricultural workers who are paid on a piece-rate basis for piece-rate picking work by answering the following two questions, which were certified to us by Judge Mendoza of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington: A. Does Washington law require...
