Washington Supreme Court Decisions 2022
Date: December 22, 2022
Docket Number: 100,276-9
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Chaz Butler, a Black man, was convicted of assaulting two security officers in separate incidents at two Seattle light rail stations. One of the victims, who appeared to be white, identified Butler as his…
Date: December 22, 2022
Docket Number: 100,540-7
Justia Opinion Summary: The trial court denied Respondent William Talbott II’s motion to excuse a prospective juror (juror 40) for cause. Talbott could have removed juror 40 with a peremptory challenge, but he did not, nor did he exhaust his…
Date: December 8, 2022
Docket Number: 100,095-2
Justia Opinion Summary: Rather than using the insurance agency’s in-house presiding officer, American Property Casualty Insurance Association (Association) requested an adjudicative hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ) pursuant to…
Date: December 8, 2022
Docket Number: 100,573-3
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2018, the Washington Department of Ecology (Department) revised its Water Quality Program Permit Writer’s Manual to add a new section addressing methods permit writers could use to identify and measure polychlorinated…
Date: December 8, 2022
Docket Number: 100,676-4
Justia Opinion Summary: The collective bargaining contract between the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, AFSCME Council 2 (Union) and the City of Spokane expired on December 31, 2020. Prior to its expiration, the Union…
Date: December 1, 2022
Docket Number: 100,051-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Derrius Forcha-Williams was convicted by jury of second degree rape for an incident that occurred when he was 16 years old. He was sentenced to an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of 120 months and a…
Date: December 1, 2022
Docket Number: 100,296-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Li’Anthony Williams was 17 years old in 2001 when he pleaded guilty to assault in the second degree with sexual motivation and was sentenced under the indeterminate sentencing scheme for sex offenders. The…
Date: November 17, 2022
Docket Number: 100,622-5
Justia Opinion Summary: In August 2020, Petitioner Jason Waits was tried and convicted of first degree child molestation and first degree attempted child molestation. The issues for the Washington Supreme Court’s review arose from the bad…
Date: November 3, 2022
Docket Number: 201,997-8
Date: October 27, 2022
Docket Number: 100,049-9
Justia Opinion Summary: Gregory and Sue Tadych filed suit after the one-year limitation period to bring a construction defect suit expired. The trial court entered summary judgment, dismissing the suit and upholding the contractual limitation.…
Date: October 27, 2022
Docket Number: 100,060-0
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2012, Sabelita Hawkins pleaded guilty to felony harassment and second degree malicious mischief. In 2019, she moved to vacate those convictions under RCW 9.94A.640., which granted trial courts discretion to vacate…
Date: October 20, 2022
Docket Number: 100,012-0
Justia Opinion Summary: Javier Garza was found guilty of third degree rape when he was 17 years old. Twenty-five years after his adjudication, Garza successfully petitioned for relief from registering as a sex offender. Garza then moved to…
Date: October 20, 2022
Docket Number: 97672-4
Justia Opinion Summary: Janelle Henderson, a Black woman, and Alicia Thompson, a white woman, were involved in a motor vehicle collision. Thompson admitted fault for the collision but made no offer to compensate Henderson for her injuries.…
Date: October 13, 2022
Docket Number: 100,144-4
Justia Opinion Summary: This case presented an issue of first impression for the Washington Supreme Court relating to the business records exception to the rule against hearsay: the admissibility of a drug rehabilitation and testing center…
Date: October 13, 2022
Docket Number: 100,258-1
Justia Opinion Summary: This case concerned whether Washington Substitute Senate Bill (SSB) 5493, constituted an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority. SSB 5493 amended RCW 39.12.015 to modify how the Department of Labor and…
Date: October 6, 2022
Docket Number: 100,166-5
Justia Opinion Summary: As part of an effort to reduce racial bias in the judicial system, the Washington Supreme Court enacted GR 37, which directed trial judges to deny a peremptory challenge when an objective observer could view race as a…
Date: September 15, 2022
Docket Number: 100,168-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP), sought reversal of a Court of Appeals decision affirming the partial summary judgment rulings that an “all risk”…
Date: September 8, 2022
Docket Number: 100,731-1
Justia Opinion Summary: King County, Washington petitioned the Washington Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to compel the presiding judge of Pierce County Superior Court to turn over court reporters’ backup audiotapes and to search court…
Date: September 8, 2022
Docket Number: 97890-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Tonelli Anderson petitioned the Washington Supreme Court for review of his 61-year sentence he received for two first degree murders committed at age 17. Anderson asked the Court to find his sentence was…
Date: September 1, 2022
Docket Number: 99359-9
Justia Opinion Summary: Carl Schwartz filed suit against King County, Washington (County) for the catastrophic injuries he suffered when he collided with a bollard the County installed on the Green River Trail. The County moved for summary…
Date: August 25, 2022
Docket Number: 100,129-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Hardel Mutual Plywood Corporation owns property in Lewis County. Hardel challenged the value assessed by the Lewis County assessor, paid its taxes under protest, and brought this refund action in Thurston County Superior…
Date: August 25, 2022
Docket Number: 100,211-4
Justia Opinion Summary: In early 2020, to help curtail the spread of COVID-19, Washington Governor Inslee issued Proclamation 20-24 prohibiting non emergency dental care. The issue this case presented for the Washington Supreme Court’s review…
Date: August 18, 2022
Docket Number: 100,069-3
Justia Opinion Summary: The federal district court for the Western District of Washington certified a question of law to the Washington Supreme Court. The federal court asked the Supreme Court to clarify the standards for equitable tolling in…
Date: August 18, 2022
Docket Number: 100,526-1
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Yesenia Pacheco sought contraception from Neighborcare Health, a federally funded community health center, “to prevent the birth of an unwanted child.” The method Pacheco and her care providers selected was…
Date: August 11, 2022
Docket Number: 100,466-4
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington certified a question of law to the Washington Supreme Court. Cox Construction was the general contractor of a remodeling project. Cox hired…
Date: August 11, 2022
Docket Number: 98340-2
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Antoine Davis was 21 when he was convicted of first degree murder and second degree attempted murder. He received a standard range sentence of 767 months. Davis filed this personal restraint petition (PRP)…
Date: August 11, 2022
Docket Number: 99792-6
Justia Opinion Summary: A child was taken from his mother after she brought him to the hospital. Hospital staff found the child had serious injuries. The father, who lived separately from the mother, asked that the child be placed with him. The…
Date: August 11, 2022
Docket Number: 99893-1
Justia Opinion Summary: In February 2016, three-month-old A.K., daughter of respondents Michelle Desmet and Sandro Kasco, was taken into protective custody after she suffered a spiral fracture to her left femur. When the parents could not…
Date: July 28, 2022
Docket Number: 99748-9
Justia Opinion Summary: When Petitioner Andrew Kennedy was 19 years old, he killed his cousin’s 11-month-old daughter while she was in his care. Following a bench trial in 2007, the court convicted Kennedy of homicide by abuse and sentenced him…
Date: July 28, 2022
Docket Number: 99850-7
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Cristian Lupastean was convicted by a jury of driving while license suspended (DWLS), driving a commercial vehicle without a valid commercial driver’s license (CDL), and reckless driving. He sought a new trial…
Date: July 21, 2022
Docket Number: 99183-9
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Washington Supreme Court's review centered on the Department of Natural Resources' ("DNR") land management strategies applicable to certain federal land grants (“state lands”) and…
Date: July 21, 2022
Docket Number: 99481-1
Justia Opinion Summary: The Washington Supreme Court exercised discretionary interlocutory review in this case primarily to decide whether the Washington Indian Child Welfare Act (WICWA) required the State to take active efforts to prevent the…
Date: July 14, 2022
Docket Number: 99813-2
Justia Opinion Summary: A trial court granted petitioner Mary Walker’s motion to dismiss with prejudice based on a violation of CrR 3.3. The Court of Appeals reversed and held that Walker waived the right to object to the trial date because,…
Date: July 7, 2022
Docket Number: 99865-5
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Lance Thomason attempted to steal about $15 worth of meat and cheese from Yoke’s Fresh Market in Spokane and fought with a security guard on his way out. A jury convicted him of second degree robbery, and the…
Date: June 30, 2022
Docket Number: 99592-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Jeffrey Conaway was prosecuted for felony indecent exposure. The State entered evidence of a docket entry showing that Conaway previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor indecent exposure, complied with the…
Date: June 30, 2022
Docket Number: 99959-7
Justia Opinion Summary: On Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, 2017, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Petitioner Joseph Zamora was walking to his niece’s house when a neighbor called the police to report a possible vehicle prowler. When Zamora reached…
Date: June 23, 2022
Docket Number: 100,038-3
Justia Opinion Summary: In March 2017, three North Seattle banks were robbed. Police administered a variety of photomontages to witnesses. Some aspects of the photomontage process complied with best practices generally recognized by new…
Date: June 16, 2022
Docket Number: 100,066-9
Justia Opinion Summary: The issues this case presented for the Washington Supreme Court involved the priority of mortgage liens, the scope of RCW 60.04.226, and whether to adopt certain sections of the Restatement (Third) of Property: Mortgages…
Date: June 9, 2022
Docket Number: 99730-6
Justia Opinion Summary: On April 9, 2019, Deputy Mark Rickerson was on patrol, driving an unmarked police vehicle through an area where there were “some problem houses.” The deputy noticed a Honda parked near the entry gate to a church parking…
Date: June 2, 2022
Docket Number: 100,008-1
Justia Opinion Summary: N.G., the subject of this dependency proceeding, was born to mother M.S., in 2011. N.G.’s father had no meaningful relationship with N.G. M.S. met J.R., permissive intervenor in this case, in 2014. M.S. and J.R. had a…
Date: June 2, 2022
Docket Number: 100,079-1
Justia Opinion Summary: This case addressed the difference between two claims that arose from the same accident and that were based on the same medical care: a medical malpractice claim and a failure to secure informed consent claim. In 2017,…
Date: June 2, 2022
Docket Number: 99956-2
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington certified a question to the Washington Supreme Court, asking whether Washington law recognized an exception to the "learned intermediary doctrine"…
Date: May 26, 2022
Docket Number: 100,103-7
Justia Opinion Summary: In federal court, Plaintiff Timothy Martin sued the Department of Corrections (DOC) and three DOC-employed medical providers, alleging Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution violations under 42 U.S.C. 1983,…
Date: May 19, 2022
Docket Number: 99374-2
Justia Opinion Summary: M.Y.G. was 15 years old when he stole two cars. The State charged him with two counts of theft of a motor vehicle. M.Y.G. moved for and was granted a deferred disposition, but he objected to providing a DNA sample. The…
Date: May 12, 2022
Docket Number: 98896-0
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2012, when Washington voters approved Initiative 502 legalizing recreational cannabis, it modified the driving under the influence (DUI) law and created a prong under which a person can be convicted of DUI depending…
Date: May 5, 2022
Docket Number: 99310-6
Justia Opinion Summary: Ronald Snider, who was convicted of third degree rape in 2003, failed to update his registration when he moved out of a residential treatment facility in mid-2017. This was at least the fifth time Snider had failed to…
Date: April 28, 2022
Docket Number: 99403-0
Justia Opinion Summary: The question this case presented for the Washington Supreme Court’s review centered on whether the prosecution was required, under Brady v. Maryland, to turn over to the defense the jail and mental health records of the…
Date: April 28, 2022
Docket Number: 99948-1
Justia Opinion Summary: C Davis sought to recall Washington Governor Jay Inslee. Davis filed five recall charges alleging that Governor Inslee violated the separation of powers, infringed on a number of constitutional rights, and improperly…
Date: April 21, 2022
Docket Number: 99596-6
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this appeal presented for the Washington Supreme Court’s review centered on whether a city ordinance requiring guns be safely kept and out of unauthorized hands, was preempted by state law. After robust debate…
Date: March 31, 2022
Docket Number: 99452-8
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Douglas Arbogast was charged with two counts of attempted child rape as a result of a Washington State Patrol sting operation. Police officers posted an advertisement online and posed as a mother seeking a…
Date: March 31, 2022
Docket Number: 99598-2
Justia Opinion Summary: RCW 49.60.227 permitted a court to strike a racially restrictive, legally unenforceable covenant from the public records and eliminate the covenant from the title. This case concerned what under the statute, striking…
Date: March 24, 2022
Docket Number: 100,045-6
Justia Opinion Summary: Daniel Watanabe and Solveig (Watanabe) Pedersen divorced in 2016. During the marriage, Pedersen inherited a large sum of money and land after her mother passed away. At their dissolution trial, the court held that…
Date: March 17, 2022
Docket Number: 100,029-4
Justia Opinion Summary: At trial, a jury found Daviel Canela guilty of attempted first degree murder and of second degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Canela appealed his conviction on multiple grounds. The Court of Appeals vacated the…
Date: March 10, 2022
Docket Number: 99396-3
Justia Opinion Summary: In August 2016, R.G.M. disclosed to her mother that her father, Patrick Crossguns Sr., had sexually abused her. R.G.M. said he had been abusing her for over a year, beginning when she was 12 years old. Crossguns was…
Date: March 3, 2022
Docket Number: 99071-9
Justia Opinion Summary: Chris Williams was fined in Spokane Municipal Court for speeding in a school zone, an infraction captured by a traffic safety camera. Williams did not contest the infraction when it was issued, but before the Washington…
Date: March 3, 2022
Docket Number: 99546-0
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Daniel Elwell was charged with one count of residential burglary. He disagreed with his assigned trial counsel about a number of issues, including the probable merit of a motion to suppress based on an alleged…
Date: February 24, 2022
Docket Number: 99138-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Matt Surowiecki Sr. sued the Hat Island Community Association (HICA), arguing that HICA violated its governing documents by not charging assessments on an equitable basis. After review, the Washington Supreme Court…
Date: February 24, 2022
Docket Number: 99724-1
Justia Opinion Summary: James Hamre died when an Amtrak train derailed in Dupont, Washington, in 2017. He was survived by his mother, who lived with him, and three adult siblings. Under the wrongful death statutes in effect at the time, James’…
Date: February 17, 2022
Docket Number: 99301-7
Justia Opinion Summary: K.W. was removed from his long-term placement with his relative, “Grandma B.,” after she took a one-day trip and did not notify the social worker of the trip. The consequence of this removal resulted in tremendous…
Date: February 17, 2022
Docket Number: 99581-8
Justia Opinion Summary: Julie Fairbanks began dating Charmarke Abdi-Issa shortly after she moved to Seattle with her dog, Mona. Mona was a small Chihuahua and Dachshund mix. Fairbanks testified she was close to Mona. Abdi-Issa, however, had a…
Date: February 10, 2022
Docket Number: 201,996-0
Justia Opinion Summary: The Commission on Judicial Conduct (Commission) ruled that Judge David Keenan, a King County Superior Court judge, violated the Code of Judicial Conduct (CJC or Code) when he approved a bus advertisement for North…
Date: February 10, 2022
Docket Number: 99804-3
Justia Opinion Summary: Lori Shavlik sought to recall Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney. Her petition was the fourth to recall Sheriff Fortney since he took office on January 1, 2020. As the fourth attempt to recall Sheriff Fortney, the…
Date: February 3, 2022
Docket Number: 99337-8
Justia Opinion Summary: Justin Jennings was convicted of felony murder and unlawful possession of a firearm for the killing of Chris Burton. At trial, the court held that a toxicology report showing Burton had methamphetamine in his system at…
Date: January 27, 2022
Docket Number: 99230-4
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Washington Supreme Court's review centered on the amount of reimbursement that counties were entitled to from the State for costs associated with purchasing, installing, and…
Date: January 27, 2022
Docket Number: 99347-5
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2017, respondent Zachary Bergstrom was charged with possession of a controlled substance. He was later released on bail. For various reasons, among them, hospitalization, tardiness, and struggles with drug addiction…
Date: January 20, 2022
Docket Number: 99407-2
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Washington Supreme Court's review was whether the penalty for intentionally concealing the source of political contributions could be based on the amount concealed. Washington voters…
Date: January 13, 2022
Docket Number: 98078-1
Justia Opinion Summary: David Dodge was convicted of first degree murder, rape, and burglary for crimes he committed in 1997, when he was 17 years old. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Twenty years later, the Washington legislature…
Date: January 13, 2022
Docket Number: 99263-1
Justia Opinion Summary: The Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) challenged the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) approval of a permit that allowed Cooke Aquaculture Pacific LLC to change fish species to commercially farm steelhead…
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