STEPHENS , J. 1 This case asks us to decide whether Washington's vested rights doctrine excuses compliance with the requirements of a municipal storm water permit. The Washington State Department of Ecology issued the third iteration of a municipal storm water permit pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (also known as the Clean Water Act), 25 U.S.C. 1251-1388, and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting program established by the act. The permit...
OWENS , J. 1 Article VII of the Washington Constitution imposes a set of requirements on taxes for the protection of the taxpayers; however, not all governmental charges are "taxes" that are subject to those requirements. At issue in this case is whether a certain governmental charge imposed on Indian tribes is a tax. After the legislature amended a statute to expand the types of tribal property that are eligible for a property tax exemption, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe applied for and...
FAIRHURST , J. 1 Jan DeMeerleer murdered Rebecca Schiering and her nine year old son Philip and attempted to murder Schiering's older son, Brian Winkler. After the attack, DeMeerleer committed suicide. DeMeerleer had been an outpatient of psychiatrist Dr. Howard Ashby for nine years leading up to the attack, during which time he expressed suicidal and homicidal ideations but never named Schiering or her children as potential victims. We must decide whether Ashby, a mental health...
MADSEN , C.J. 1 These consolidated cases require us to decide whether the State can offer a driver's refusal to take a breath test under Washington's implied consent statute, RCW 46.20.308, 1 as evidence of guilt at a criminal trial after the Supreme Court's decision in Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552 , 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013) (plurality opinion). 2 Washington's implied consent statute facilitates law enforcement in obtaining evidence of blood alcohol content (BAC)...
Gonz lez , J. 1 Washington State citizens decriminalized the recreational use of cannabis by initiative. The main psychoactive compound in cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The initiative established a legal limit for THC concentration in the blood while driving and amended the implied consent statute to direct officers to warn drivers of the legal consequences of a breath test that revealed that concentration. Unfortunately, no breath test available at the time measured THC...
STEPHENS , J. 1 Highland High School quarterback Matthew Newman suffered a permanent brain injury at a football game in 2009, one day after he allegedly sustained a head injury at football practice. Three years later, Newman and his parents (collectively Newman) sued Highland School District No. 203 (Highland) for negligence. Before trial, Highland's counsel interviewed several former coaches and appeared on their behalf at their depositions. Newman moved to disqualify Highland's...
Fairhurst , J. 1 Washington's Public Records Act (PRA), chapter 42.56 RCW, allows citizens broad access to public records and provides a cause of action to challenge inadequate responses to records requests. When Mike Belenski requested certain records from Jefferson County (County), the County responded that it had "no responsive records." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 214. Over two years later, Belenski sued the County, asserting that this response violated the PRA because the County did in...
Gonz lez , J. 1 N.L. met Nicholas Clark at school track practice. She was 14, and he was 18. Both were students in the Bethel School District. Neither N.L. nor any responsible adult on the field knew that Clark was a registered sex offender who had previously sexually assaulted a younger girl who had been about N.L.'s age at the time. The Pierce County Sheriff's Department had informed Clark's school principal of his sex offender status, but the principal took no action in response....
OWENS , J. 1 In many civil cases, arbitration is mandatory. After arbitration, either party can request a full trial, but if they do not improve their position from arbitration, they have to pay the opposing party's attorney fees. In this case, Michael Erickson requested a trial after arbitration, and the issue before us is whether he improved his position at trial. This is not as simple to resolve as it might seem because his position prior to trial was unclear. We hold that his...
YU , J. 1 This case requires us to determine whether it is permissible to impeach a hearsay declarant with his or her prior convictions under certain circumstances. ER 806 allows for impeachment of a hearsay declarant as if the declarant were a testifying witness. In this case, the defendant did not testify and his own out-of-court statements were admitted into evidence through his expert witness' testimony. Defense counsel expressly declined a limiting instruction offered by the trial...
WIGGINS , J. 1 The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit certified the following question to this court: "Does a title company owe a duty of care to third parties in the recording of legal instruments " We answer the certified question no and hold that title companies do not owe a duty of care to third parties in the recording of legal instruments. Such a duty is contrary to Washington's policy and precedent, and other duty of care considerations. FACTS 2 This...
OWENS , J. 1 After defaulting on her home mortgage payment, plaintiff Laura Jordan returned home from work one evening to discover she could not enter her own house: the locks had been changed without warning. A notice informed her that in order to gain access to her home, she must call defendant Nationstar Mortgage LLC to obtain the lockbox code and retrieve the new key inside. Although she eventually reentered her home, she removed her belongings the next day and has not returned since....
WIGGINS , J. 1 Officer Scott Campbell made a traffic stop of petitioner Mark Tracy Mecham and observed signs that Mecham might have been driving while intoxicated. Officer Campbell asked Mecham to perform field sobriety tests (FSTs), which would have involved Officer Campbell's observing Mecham's eye movements and ability to walk a straight line and stand on one leg. Mecham refused, and his refusal was used against him at trial. Mecham contends that his right to be free from unreasonable...
WIGGINS , J. 1 Kut Suen Lui and May Far Lui (the Luis) owned a building that sustained water damage after a pipe burst while the building was vacant. The Luis' insurance policy for the building limited coverage for water damage in two ways based on vacancy: coverage was suspended if the building remained vacant for 60 consecutive days and, effective at the beginning of any vacancy, there was no coverage for certain specified losses, including water damage. The Luis argue that the policy...
FAIRHURST , J. 1 The Industrial Insurance Act (IIA), Title 51 RCW, requires employers to report and pay workers' compensation premiums for all covered workers, including independent contractors, provided the principal-independent contractor relationship meets certain criteria. Lyons Enterprises Inc. is a regional franchisor of an international janitorial franchise operating in western Washington. The Department of Labor and Industries (L & I) determined that some of Lyons' franchisees,...
STEPHENS , J. 1 Ho Im Bae died from acute morphine intoxication at Lakeside Adult Family Home. Esther Kim, the personal representative of Bae's estate, brought tort claims against several individuals involved in Bae's care. This appeal concerns claims against Alpha Nursing & Services Inc. and two of its nurses, who did not provide nursing services to Bae, but who are alleged to have observed signs of abuse and physical assault that should have been reported to the Department of Social...
FAIRHURST , J. 1 RCW 49.48.030 provides that employees are entitled to reasonable attorney fees from their employer or former employer "[i]n any action in which any person is successful in recovering judgment for wages or salary owed to him or her." This case concerns whether a city of Seattle (City) employee who recovered wages from a Seattle Civil Service Commission (Commission) hearing is entitled to attorney fees under RCW 49.48.030 when the city code provides she may be represented...
JOHNSON , J. 1 In this workers' compensation appeal, the trial court denied the worker's proposed instruction, which would inform the jury that it must give special consideration to the (opinion) testimony of his attending physician. The trial court ruled against the worker. The Court of Appeals reversed and ordered a new trial on an unrelated basis — holding that the trial court reversibly erred when it refused Patrick McManus's request to revise the Board of Industrial Insurance...
GONZ LEZ , J. 1 This case presents two questions: (1) whether Chad Duncan can challenge the legal financial obligations (LFOs) imposed by the trial court for the first time on appeal and (2) whether the police properly searched his car for a gun after a drive-by shooting. We answer yes to both questions, affirm Duncan's conviction, and remand for resentencing with proper consideration of his ability to pay LFOs. FACTS 2 A little after midnight in Yakima one summer night in 2009,...
PER CURIAM . 1 Prison inmate Steven Kozol seeks to file a statutory petition for writ of review under chapter 7.16 RCW to challenge a prison disciplinary sanction imposed by the Department of Corrections. On Kozol's appeal from the superior court's denial of his request to present a writ petition, the Court of Appeals held that Kozol could petition for such a writ in challenging a prison disciplinary decision. But because a personal restraint petition is an "adequate remedy at law" for...
