Washington Supreme Court Decisions 2015
Date: December 31, 2015
Docket Number: 90608-4
Justia Opinion Summary: Seattle Police Officer Michael Conners stopped a vehicle driven by Wayne Evans for speeding in the Central District of Seattle. As Conners approached Evans's vehicle, he observed furtive movements from Evans and his…
Date: December 24, 2015
Docket Number: 91457-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Zachary Larson was convicted under the statute for committing retail theft while in possession of wire cutters. He used the wire cutters to remove a security tag from a pair of Nike shoes worth $32 at a…
Date: December 17, 2015
Docket Number: 90577-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Michael Reeder appealed a Court of Appeals decision affirming his conviction on 14 counts of securities fraud and 14 counts of theft in the first degree. He argued: (1) subpoenas duces tecum issued by a…
Date: December 10, 2015
Docket Number: 90468-5
Justia Opinion Summary: M.H.P. was the son of Leslie Bramlett and Paul Parvin. He was less than two years old when dependency proceedings commenced. M.H.P.'s parents experienced repeated episodes of mental illness, substance abuse, and…
Date: December 10, 2015
Docket Number: 90883-4
Justia Opinion Summary: In 20 13, PUD commissioners Buz Ketcham and Kurt Anagnostou passed a censure resolution against Edward Piper. The resolution alleged nine instances of misfeasance but contained no underlying factual description to…
Date: December 10, 2015
Docket Number: 91393-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff in this putative class action was a Texas resident. Plaintiff alleged she received deceptive debt collection letters from defendant Seattle Service Bureau Inc. (SSB), a corporation with its principal place of…
Date: December 3, 2015
Docket Number: 90246-1
Justia Opinion Summary: In October 2009, a Washington State Patrol trooper observed a truck, driven by Respondent Kenneth Sandholm, drifting back and forth outside of driving lanes and moving at an erratic speed. After pulling the truck over,…
Date: November 25, 2015
Docket Number: 89657-7
Justia Opinion Summary: Zahid Khan was tried, without an interpreter, for multiple counts of child molestation and rape. Khan was not a native English speaker, and his level of English fluency was disputed. It was undisputed that he was not…
Date: November 25, 2015
Docket Number: 90179-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Norma Tison entered into a lease for a mobile home lot in October 2001. The lease was executed on a preprinted form prepared by Manufactured Housing Communities of Washington. It was a one-year lease with several…
Date: November 19, 2015
Docket Number: 90811-7
Justia Opinion Summary: On the eve of Matthew Hampton's trial, Hampton moved to replace his appointed counsel with a new private attorney on the condition that the trial be continued so his new counsel could prepare. The trial court denied the…
Date: November 12, 2015
Docket Number: 90712-9
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, Javier Ruiz-Sanabria timely filed a motion in superior court to withdraw his guilty plea to several sex offenses. The court transferred his motion to Division One of the Court of Appeals, but without…
Date: November 12, 2015
Docket Number: 92075-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants sought to reverse a superior court order denying appellants' motion to enjoin the secretary of state from placing Initiative 1366 (I-1366) on the November 2015 general election ballot. Appellants claimed the…
Date: November 5, 2015
Docket Number: 90554-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Mark Besola and Jeffrey Swenson lived together in Besola's house. After a friend of Swenson's, Kellie Westfall, was arrested, she told police that she had seen drugs and child pornography at Besola' s house. Besola was a…
Date: November 5, 2015
Docket Number: 91220-3
Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Tammera Thurlby with three counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. Thurlby was present when her two day trial started, but she failed to appear on the second day. The trial court found…
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: 89706-9
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2006, Mathew Moi was tried for the murder of Keith McGowan and for unlawful possession of the gun that killed McGowan. No physical evidence tied Moi to the gun, and perhaps because of that, the jury was unable to…
Date: October 29, 2015
Docket Number: 90088-4
Justia Opinion Summary: Rogaciano and Raquel Cabrera bought a house in Pasco, Washington, in 2007. In 2011, they obtained a license from the city to rent the house as a single residential unit. Contrary to the license, the Cabreras rented the…
Date: October 22, 2015
Docket Number: 90652-1
Justia Opinion Summary: After defaulting on her home loan, Darlene Brown requested a foreclosure fairness act (FFA) mediation. The Department denied the request, reasoning the beneficiary of her deed of trust was exempt from mediation. Whether…
Date: October 22, 2015
Docket Number: 90846-0
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court’s review centered on whether a deputy sheriff inadequately advised the defendant of his Miranda rights when he initially told the defendant that a lawyer would be…
Date: October 8, 2015
Docket Number: 90386-7
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on a challenge to a water right permit issued to the City of Yelm. The permit allowed the Department of Ecology to authorize withdrawals of water that…
Date: October 8, 2015
Docket Number: 90467-7
Justia Opinion Summary: M.S.M.-P. was born in April 2000. His biological parents, S.K. and N.P.'s relationship was marked from the beginning by physical abuse against S.K. S.K. and N.P.'s relationship ended within two weeks of M.S.M.-P.'s…
Date: October 1, 2015
Docket Number: 90500-2
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the Citizens Alliance for Property Rights Legal Fund (CAPR) sought to invalidate several ordinances passed by San Juan County, alleging violations of Washington's Open Public Meetings Act of 1971 (OPMA).…
Date: September 24, 2015
Docket Number: 89465-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Rolando Reyes was committed to the custody of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) following a determination that he was a sexually violent predator (SVP). On appeal, Reyes requested a new SVP commitment…
Date: September 24, 2015
Docket Number: 90357-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Darla Keck filed a medical malpractice case against doctors Chad Collins, DMD, and Patrick Collins, DDS after she experienced complications following sleep apnea surgery. The Doctors moved for summary judgment, arguing…
Date: September 24, 2015
Docket Number: 90874-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Virginia Jepsen executed her last will and testament on July 1, 2009, and died on November 16, 2011. On December 20, 2011, the superior court admitted Jepsen's will to probate, declared the estate was solvent, and…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: 90308-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner David Carson appealed his conviction on three counts of first-degree child molestation. He argued he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney objected to a "Petrich" instruction…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: 90666-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Adrian Ozuna challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction for intimidating a former witness. Ozuna contended the jury impermissibly convicted him based only on a letter he wrote that…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: 90946-6
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Gregg Becker began working for Rockwood Clinic PS, an acquired subsidiary of Community Health Systems (CHS) 1 as its chief financial officer (CFO) in February 2011. As a publicly traded company, CJ-IS is…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: 90975-0
Justia Opinion Summary: The jeopardy element of the tort for wrongful discharge against public policy and whether the administrative remedies available under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (STAA) were at issue in this case.…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: 91040-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Erika Rickman brought this suit against her former employer, Premera Blue Cross, for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. Rickman alleged she was terminated in retaliation for raising concerns…
Date: September 17, 2015
Docket Number: 91112-6
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, Rickey Beaver was found not guilty by reason of insanity on a charge of residential burglary. The court found that Beaver suffered from a mental disease or defect and held that he posed a substantial danger to…
Date: September 10, 2015
Docket Number: 90891-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Washington orchardists Harold and Shirley Ostenson (collectively Ostenson) and California organic fruit broker Greg Holzman (d/b/a Greg Holzman, Inc. (GHI)) formed Pac Organic Fruit LLC (Pac-O) in 1998. The business…
Date: September 10, 2015
Docket Number: 91180-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Adam Lewis challenged two portions of a Court of Appeals opinion denying him credit for time served awaiting trial on his burglary and assault charges. After the Washington Supreme Court granted review, the State…
Date: September 4, 2015
Docket Number: 89714-0
Justia Opinion Summary: This case was a direct review of a King County Superior Court decision that found certain portions of Initiative 1240 (I-1240) (Charter School Act), codified at chapter 28A.710 RCW, unconstitutional but left the…
Date: September 3, 2015
Docket Number: 90510-0
Justia Opinion Summary: Advertisements featuring three minor girls, J.S., S.L., and L.C. (collectively J.S.), allegedly were posted on a website owned and maintained by Village Voice Media Holdings, d/b/a Backpage.com, Backpage.com LLC and New…
Date: September 3, 2015
Docket Number: 90751-0
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Washington Supreme Court's review was whether under the State Constitution article I, section 7, an officer may search an arrestee's backpack as a search incident to arrest when the…
Date: September 3, 2015
Docket Number: 90879-6
Justia Opinion Summary: The Unit Owners Association of Centre Pointe Condominium (Centre Pointe) was formed in May 2003 by a declaration of condominium (Declaration) recorded in Whatcom County. A clubhouse and three residential buildings with…
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: 201,352-0
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: 89734-4
Justia Opinion Summary: Several Indian tribes successfully challenged the imposition of state fuel taxes on tribal retailers. Since then, the State and various tribes signed agreements under which the tribes agreed to buy taxed fuel, and the…
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: 90620-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Edward Gorre was a firefighter employed by the city of Tacoma (City), who suffered from valley fever (coccidioidomycosis). Gorre's diagnosis was not disputed. At issue was whether valley fever was considered a…
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: 90839-7
Justia Opinion Summary: Julio Davila appealed the Court of Appeals' decision affirming his conviction for second degree murder. At issue was whether the State violated its disclosure obligation under "Brady v. Maryland," (373 U.S. 83 (1963)),…
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: 90875-3
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved two requests for public records that Glenda Nissen, a sheriff's detective, sent to Pierce County (County). Both requests asked for records related to Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. The…
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: 90926-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Jose Martines was involved in a car accident. Pursuant to a warrant, a blood sample was extracted from Martines after an officer suspected he was driving while under the influence (DUI). Martines was ultimately charged…
Date: August 27, 2015
Docket Number: 91072-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Klein Honda was a Honda dealership. From time to time, Honda (the manufacturer) offered a "dealer cash" incentive program for its dealerships whereby dealerships can earn a specific amount of extra money if they sold…
Date: August 20, 2015
Docket Number: 85996-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Frederick Russell was arrested in 2001 for drinking and driving, which lead to a crash, killing two passengers and seriously injuring three others. He posted bail, but failed to appear at a pretrial hearing.…
Date: August 20, 2015
Docket Number: 89571-6
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Jerry Herron was charged with first degree rape while armed with a deadly weapon. Roughly a week and a half before trial, the trial court held an initial readiness hearing where it informed the parties that it…
Date: August 20, 2015
Docket Number: 89620-8
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Jonathan Gentry was convicted by jury of aggravated first degree murder of a 12-year-old girl in 1991, for which he was sentenced to death. His conviction was affirmed in 1995, and denied postconviction relief…
Date: August 20, 2015
Docket Number: 89723-9
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, SeaTac city voters approved a local initiative to establish the minimum wage for hospitality and transportation workers at $15-per-hour. Opponents of "Proposition 1" challenged the validity under state and…
Date: August 20, 2015
Docket Number: 90509-6
Justia Opinion Summary: Rocio Trujillo's home loan was secured by a deed of trust encumbering the home. She defaulted, and Northwest Trustee Services Inc. (NWTS), the successor trustee, sent a notice of default and scheduled a trustee's sale of…
Date: August 13, 2015
Docket Number: 90337-9
Justia Opinion Summary: Sean O'Dell was convicted of second degree rape of a child committed ten days after his eighteenth birthday, for which he was given a standard range sentence of 95 months. On appeal, O'Dell raised two issues on appeal to…
Date: August 13, 2015
Docket Number: 90782-0
Justia Opinion Summary: Timothy Conover was convicted of three counts of delivering heroin within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop. The trial court imposed one 48-month standard-range base sentence on each count, to run concurrently with each…
Date: August 6, 2015
Docket Number: 90939-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Roman Fedorov was arrested for attempting to elude law enforcement and driving under the influence. He was transported to jail for the purpose of administering a breath alcohol concentration (BAC) test. Fedorov asked…
Date: July 16, 2015
Docket Number: 89619-4
Justia Opinion Summary: At the conclusion of voir dire questioning, counsel exercised for cause challenges orally at the bench and subsequently exercised peremptory challenges silently by exchanging a list of jurors and alternatively striking…
Date: July 16, 2015
Docket Number: 89894-4
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Washington Supreme Court's review centered on whether, under either the state or federal constitutions, the information provided by multiple 911 callers was reliable and sufficient…
Date: July 16, 2015
Docket Number: 90827-3
Justia Opinion Summary: After an incident involving his then-deputy coroner, Grant County Coroner Jerry Lee Jasman pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and resigned. By statute, Jasman's conviction prohibited him from holding public office…
Date: July 16, 2015
Docket Number: 90932-6
Justia Opinion Summary: The United District Court for the Western District of Washington certified two questions of Washington law to the Washington Supreme Court. The questions arose from a class action employment lawsuit then pending in the…
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: 89792-1
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted Robert Yates Jr. of two counts of aggravated first degree murder and sentenced him to death. The Washington Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and sentence in 2007. Yates filed this personal restraint…
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: 89971-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Chadwick Kalebaugh appealed his first degree child molestation conviction and claimed reversible error based on the trial judge's misstatements regarding the meaning of "reasonable doubt" in his preliminary…
Date: July 9, 2015
Docket Number: 90486-3
Justia Opinion Summary: The Washington State Hospital Association, a health care advocacy group, challenged Rule WAC 246-310-010(54), arguing, among other things, that the State Department of Health exceeded its statutory authority in…
Date: July 2, 2015
Docket Number: 89965-7
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Michael Cates was convicted by jury on two counts of first degree rape of a child, and two counts of first degree child molestation. He was given a standard-range sentence for each conviction, all to run…
Date: July 2, 2015
Docket Number: 90479-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Brian Brush was convicted of first degree murder for killing his ex-fiancee. The trial court imposed an exceptional sentence based on the jury's finding that the murder was an aggravated domestic violence…
Date: June 25, 2015
Docket Number: 88694-6
Justia Opinion Summary: This case began as a call for police assistance to E.J.J. 's house to help with his intoxicated, out-of-control sister, R.J. (a juvenile at the time). The police responded and began their intervention by escorting R.J.…
Date: June 18, 2015
Docket Number: 90651-3
Justia Opinion Summary: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals certified a question of Washington law to the Washington Supreme Court. The issue centered on how the term "collapse" was interpreted under Washington law in an insurance policy that…
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: 85236-7
Justia Opinion Summary: Leroy Jones was convicted of second degree assault for his role in a street fight involving five people. In a motion for a new trial made shortly after the verdict and before appeal, he asserted that his trial lawyer…
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: 89344-6
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from an interest arbitration award that retroactively increased employee health care premiums for a period when there was no enforceable collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The Superior Court struck a…
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: 90319-1
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved statutory interpretation of Washington's recreational land use statute, RCW 4.24.210. Plaintiff Steven Jewels sued the city of Bellingham for negligence following an injury he sustained when he was…
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: 90355-7
Justia Opinion Summary: In January 2008, S.J.C. pleaded guilty to two counts of fourth degree assault with sexual motivation for offenses he committed at age 13. At S.J.C.'s disposition hearing, the juvenile court ordered two years of community…
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: 90398-1
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on plaintiffs' claims under the Growth Management Act (GMA), chapter 36.70A RCW, and Planning Enabling Act (PEA), chapter 36.70 RCW, were properly…
Date: June 11, 2015
Docket Number: 90812-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Frederick Hardtke was charged with two counts of second degree rape, one count of second degree assault, two counts of fourth degree assault, and malicious mischief. All were alleged to be acts of domestic violence that…
Date: June 4, 2015
Docket Number: 89976-2
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Robert Barry appealed his conviction on two counts of child molestation, claiming that the trial court's instruction in response to a jury question violated his Fifth Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights under…
Date: May 28, 2015
Docket Number: 89786-7
Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Christopher Maynard in juvenile court with six counts of malicious mischief. Less than one month later, he turned 18 years old. Maynard's counsel did not move for an order to extend the court's…
Date: May 28, 2015
Docket Number: 90233-0
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on a challenge to the constitutionality of the Washington Act Limiting Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (anti-SLAPP statute).…
Date: May 21, 2015
Docket Number: 90204-6
Justia Opinion Summary: Under the Washington State Medical Use of Cannabis Act (MUCA), chapter 69.51A RCW, qualifying patients could participate in "collective gardens" to pool resources and grow medical marijuana for their own use. However,…
Date: May 21, 2015
Docket Number: 90544-4
Justia Opinion Summary: Linda Darkenwald worked as a dental hygienist in the office of Dr. Gordon Yamaguchi from 1985 to 2010. Initially, Darkenwald worked one day a week, but she increased this to two days a week and then four days a week. In…
Date: May 7, 2015
Docket Number: 88770-5
Justia Opinion Summary: As applied to Washington, the holding in "Padilla v. Kentucky," (559 U.S. 356 (2010) was an affirmation of the duty to provide effective assistance of counsel, which included the duty to reasonably research and apply…
Date: May 7, 2015
Docket Number: 88913-9
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Edward Glasmann asked the Supreme Court to reconsider the holdings of "Washington v. Daniels," (156 P.3d 905 (2007) (Daniels I), adhered to on recons., 200 P .3d 711 (2009) (Daniels II)). The Daniels case law…
Date: May 7, 2015
Docket Number: 89107-9
Justia Opinion Summary: Toby Erhart's judgment and sentence on multiple counts of first degree child rape and incest became final on direct appeal in 2008. During Erhart's trial, the court interviewed several prospective jurors privately in…
Date: May 7, 2015
Docket Numbers: 90039-6, 90270-4
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue common to these consolidated cases centered on whether the totality of circumstances in each case provided law enforcement with reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to conduct a Terry stop. Both cases…
Date: May 7, 2015
Docket Number: 90068-0
Justia Opinion Summary: Ryan Peeler was serving a prison sentence on a Snohomish County charge at the Washington Corrections Center (WCC) when he requested a final disposition of an untried charge in Skagit County. By the time that the Skagit…
Date: May 7, 2015
Docket Number: 90281-0
Justia Opinion Summary: William Reis was charged with manufacturing a controlled substance after a search of his home produced evidence of a marijuana grow operation. Reis moved to suppress the results of the search on the ground that the…
Date: April 30, 2015
Docket Number: 90367-1
Justia Opinion Summary: After his 18th birthday, Robert Wheeler was charged with, and pled guilty to, first degree child rape and first degree child molestation for offenses he committed when he was 13 or 14 years old that came to light when he…
Date: April 30, 2015
Docket Number: 90377-8
Justia Opinion Summary: Scott Walter Maziar sustained injuries while on board a ferry operated by the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC). Maziar used the ferry to get to and from work. Since Maziar was injured at sea, he brought a…
Date: April 16, 2015
Docket Number: 90291-7
Justia Opinion Summary: The parties in this case, the Gamboas and Clarks, owned adjoining parcels of land separated by a gravel road in a rural area in Yakima County. Since coming to the parcel in 1992, the Gamboas used the gravel road as a…
Date: April 16, 2015
Docket Number: 90304-2
Justia Opinion Summary: Patricia Doss filed a claim for workers' compensation with the Department of Labor and Industries after suffering chemical exposure during the course of employment with The Boeing Company. The exposure permanently…
Date: April 9, 2015
Docket Number: 89912-6
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Ronald Wayne MacDonald entered into a plea agreement for second degree murder with the prosecutor in exchange for recommending a 5-year suspended sentence with 16 months' confinement in King County jail, with…
Date: April 9, 2015
Docket Number: 90329-8
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on whether the trial court closed the courtroom during trial in violation of the defendant's rights under article I, section 22 of the Washington…
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Number: 90129-5
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved two public school employees who were on paid administrative leave while their employer investigated allegations of misconduct. The substance behind those allegations was not in the trial court record,…
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Number: 90331-0
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington certified a question of Washington law to the Washington Supreme Court. The question centered on Washington's homestead exemption law, chapter…
Date: April 2, 2015
Docket Number: 90533-9
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiffs' complaint alleged that two groups of defendants, (1) Premera, Premera Blue Cross, and Life Wise Health Plan of Washington (collectively Premera) and (2) the Washington Alliance for Healthcare Insurance…
Date: March 19, 2015
Docket Number: 90021-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Matthew Bruch was convicted of two counts of second degree child molestation and two counts of third degree rape of a child. The trial court imposed a standard range sentence of 116 months of confinement and ordered…
Date: March 19, 2015
Docket Number: 90906-7
Justia Opinion Summary: Howard Shale was an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. He had family in the Quinault Indian Nation as well. In 1997, Shale was convicted under federal law of raping a child under 12. After Shale was released from…
Date: March 12, 2015
Docket Number: 88819-1
Justia Opinion Summary: This is a consolidated case of two medical malpractice suits. In each case, the trial judge gave the jury instruction on a physician's exercise of judgment, similar to 6 Washington Practice: Washington Pattern Jury…
Date: March 12, 2015
Docket Number: 89028-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Nicholas Blazina and Mauricio Paige-Colter were ordered to pay discretionary legal financial obligations (LFOs). The trial court record in each petitioner's case did not reflect that the trial judges…
Date: March 12, 2015
Docket Number: 89866-9
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Phyllis Paetsch was referred to Spokane Dermatology Clinic for Botox injections to smooth facial wrinkles. Paetsch had never heard of the clinic, had never been there before, and was not aware of the staff or…
Date: March 5, 2015
Docket Number: 87722-0
Justia Opinion Summary: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals certified three questions to the Washington Supreme Court regarding the scope of landowners' or possessors' responsibility for harm that results when strangers commit criminal acts…
Date: February 26, 2015
Docket Number: 201,327-9
Date: February 26, 2015
Docket Number: 90154-6
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, teenager Philip Johnson called his close friend (and fellow Hilltop Crips gang member) defendant-respondent Marsele Henderson to say he was going to a party at a Boys and Girls Club. Henderson advised Johnson…
Date: February 19, 2015
Docket Number: 90393-0
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, the Washington legislature enacted a new guardianship statute, chapter 13.36 RCW, to create permanency for children in foster care through the dismissal of dependency and the appointment of a guardian. The…
Date: February 12, 2015
Docket Number: 88317-3
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, the Washington Supreme Court found that the State Legislature's 2003 amendments to the state's water law were facially constitutional. In this case, Appellants Scott Cornelius, Palouse Water Conservation…
Date: February 12, 2015
Docket Number: 89251-2
Justia Opinion Summary: In the late 1980s, Alan Meirhofer was charged with several counts of brutally raping children, along with charges of burglary and kidnapping. Meirhofer was implicated in several more child rapes. As Meirhofer finished…
Date: February 12, 2015
Docket Number: 89533-3
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on whether the City of Bothell assumed responsibility for maintaining a drainage pipe installed in a residential subdivision in Snohomish County. The…
Date: February 5, 2015
Docket Number: 89742-5
Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Larry Hayes with one count of leading organized crime and one count of identity theft in the first degree, among several other charges. The State alleged that Hayes was involved in a complex identity…
Date: January 29, 2015
Docket Number: 88949-0
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from a longstanding issue between Public Utility District No. 1 of Okanogan County (PUD) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over the installation of an electrical transmission line through…
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: 89462-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs-retired justices Robert Utter and Faith Ireland sued the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), alleging that BIAW violated Washington's Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA), chapter 42.17 A RCW, in…
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: 89674-7
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, Michael Henne, a Yakima police officer, filed an employment-related lawsuit against his employer, the city of Yakima. Several other officers had filed complaints about Henne's behavior, resulting in internal…
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: 89830-8
Justia Opinion Summary: Odies Walker was convicted as an accomplice to first degree murder, first degree assault, first degree robbery, solicitation, and conspiracy. The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on…
Date: January 22, 2015
Docket Number: 90037-0
Justia Opinion Summary: WestNET was a multiagency, multijurisdictional drug task force formed by an "Interlocal Drug Task Force Agreement" executed in June 2009 among several Washington State municipalities and the federal Naval Criminal…
Date: January 15, 2015
Docket Number: 89917-7
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2009, Maurice Clemmons shot and killed four Lakewood police officers. Petitioner Darcus Allen drove Clemmons to and from the crime scene and was charged as an accomplice. The issue on appeal to the Supreme Court was…
Date: January 15, 2015
Docket Number: 89926-6
Justia Opinion Summary: This consolidated appeal consisted of two criminal cases. In each case, the jury convicted the defendant and found that aggravating circumstances were present. At sentencing, the trial courts deviated from the standard…
Date: January 8, 2015
Docket Number: 88854-0
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury found defendant Joel Condon guilty of several offenses including aggravated first degree (premeditated) murder and first degree felony murder, stemming from his involvement in a home invasion robbery attempt. He…
Date: January 8, 2015
Docket Number: 90078-7
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated cases, the issue common to all and presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on whether guarantors of commercial loans whose own property have not been foreclosed are protected from deficiency…
Date: January 8, 2015
Docket Number: 90561-4
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on a challenge to the State Liquor Control Board's spirits distribution licensing fee structure brought by Association of Washington Spirits and Wine…
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