3: Litigation
Legal Activities Other Information:
Summary of Activities for 2007: Amicus Briefs: The Coalition, either separately or in conjunction with other organizations
supporting open government, submitted amicus briefs in support of open government principles to the appellate courts regarding
a number of cases, including Bellevue John Does v. Bellevue School District (withholding of records regarding alleged sexual
misconduct of teachers), West v. Port of Olympia (withholding of records regarding port property lease deals), Northwest Gas
Association v. Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (withholding of detailed digital mapping data of pipelines),
Treadwell v. Tressler (withholding of information filed with the court after settlement of a case), Rental Housing Association
v. City of Des Moines (tolling of the statute of limitations when parties continue to debate withholding of documents), and
Livingston v. Department of Corrections (records mailed to a prisoner by the department were blocked by the prison mail room
from being delivered to the prisoner). The Coalition posted a procedure for requesting amicus participation in case, and criteria
by which requests will be evaluated, on the web site. Direct Litigation: In 2006, the Coalition submitted a request to obtain
records from the Seattle Monorail Authority that had been originally denied in the Hangartner case. As expected, the Authority
denied the request. This year, the Coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the denial, which was dismissed by the court because
of expiration of the statute of limitations. Although the Coalition disputed the decision, we decided not to appeal the decision,
so that the Authority could be dissolved and the records turned over to the state archives. The Coalition is considering the
best strategy for obtaining the records from the archives. Monitoring of Appellate Court Petitions: The Coalition successfully
requested that the Division III court of appeals begin posting case summaries online similar to the practice of the state
Supreme Court to make it easier to monitor the status of petitions to the court; the court agreed to begin posting summaries.
The Coalition plans to make similar request to the other two divisions in the near future. Volunteer attorneys continue to
monitor petition filings in all three divisions.
Objective(s):
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