Justia Washington Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

This interlocutory appeal concerned a discovery dispute involving birth injuries sustained by Jordan Gallinat at Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, in 1996. In June 2009, Douglas Fellows, as litigation guardian for Gallinat, filed a complaint alleging medical negligence and corporate negligence against Dr. Daniel Moynihan, Dr. Kathleen Hutchinson, and the Center. The trial court determined that the Center's credentialing, privileging, and personnel records for the doctors were protected from disclosure under the quality improvement privilege (RCW 70.41.200(3)). This case also implicated the applicability of the peer review privilege codified in RCW 4.24.250. After the Court of Appeals denied discretionary review, the Supreme Court court granted petition for review. Because the Court found that the trial court erred in concluding that no other information or records need be disclosed, it remanded the case for in camera review of the records sought by Fellows. View "Fellows v. Moynihan" on Justia Law

In a medical malpractice case, Louis Diaz sought a new trial because the trial court admitted evidence that he settled before trial with two of the defendants. Diaz contended that the trial court misapplied RCW 7.70.080 in ruling the evidence admissible. Upon review, the Supreme Court agreed, concluding that: (1) RCW 7.70.080 permitted only a settling health care provider, not the nonsettling defendants, to introduce evidence of the settlement; (2) to the extent it dealt with settlements, RCW 7.70.080 was superseded by subsequent statutes that treat settlements inconsistently with subsection .080; and (3) the trial court's reading of RCW 7.70.080 would have violated the separation of powers doctrine. However, having found error, the Supreme Court held that the error was harmless because no settlement evidence was admitted at trial, the issue was a minor feature of a fairly lengthy trial, and the court gave a curative instruction at Diaz's request, which was presumed the jury followed. View "Diaz v. Washington" on Justia Law

This case involved the Public Records Act (PRA) and whether, under RCW 42.56.540, the superior court could consider the identity of a public records requester when determining whether to issue an injunction. The superior court ruled it could not consider a requester's identity and scheduled a permanent injunction hearing to determine whether the records were exempt from disclosure. Franklin County sought review of the trial court's ruling regarding identity. The Court of Appeals disagreed with the superior court and held that identity could be considered under RCW 42.56.540 because a superior court's injunctive powers are equitable. It also held that RCW 42.56.565, enacted while review was pending, is retroactive. Having determined that the Court of Appeals improperly reviewed the case when the trial court had not ruled on whether the records were exempt, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and remanded the case for a hearing on the permanent injunction. View "Franklin County Sheriff's Office v. Parmelee" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court granted Respondent Ryan Enquist's petition to review a decision of the Court of Appeals in which that court affirmed the trial court's award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees to Petitioner Jeffery Niccum at a trial de novo following mandatory arbitration. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court properly subtracted statutory costs and attorney fees from Niccum's offer of compromise before determining that Enquist failed to improve his position for purposes of MAR 7.3. Upon review, the Court determined the appellate court's conclusion was in error, and reversed. View "Niccum v. Enquist" on Justia Law

In 1997, Cecil Davis raped, robbed, and murdered 65-year-old Yoshiko Couch. A jury found him guilty of aggravated first degree murder and unanimously agreed that no mitigating factors warranted leniency, and was sentenced to death. On direct appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence. The Court later granted Davis's personal restraint petition (PRP) and reversed his sentence because jurors had seen him in shackles. At the new penalty proceeding, the jury found no mitigating factors warranting leniency and Davis was again sentenced to death. This appeal followed. Finding no reversible error in Davis's second penalty proceeding, the Supreme Court again affirmed Davis's death sentence. View "Washington v. Davis" on Justia Law

After an amendment to the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD), Debra Loeffelholz sued the University of Washington and her superior, James Lukehart (collectively “University”), for discrimination based on sexual orientation. She alleged the sexual-orientation-based discrimination created a hostile work environment based on a series of preamendment acts and one potentially postamendment act. This case presented two related issues on appeal: (1) whether the WLAD amendment applied retroactively and, if not, whether preamendment discriminatory conduct is actionable and (2) whether a single comment made postamendment is a discriminatory act. Upon review, the Supreme Court held that the WLAD amendment is not retroactive and that the preamendment conduct was not actionable as it was not unlawful when it occurred. The postamendment, allegedly discriminatory comment is arguably similar enough to the preamendment conduct to survive summary judgment. Consequently, the Court affirmed the Court of Appeals only in reversing summary judgment for the University and clarified that the Court of Appeals erred in allowing recovery for preamendment conduct. View "Loeffelholz v. Univ. of Wash." on Justia Law

This case centered on whether the recreational use immunity statute, RCW 4.24.200-.210, applied under the circumstances where a landowner, who otherwise operates an admission fee-based camp, allows a group access for no charge. During the group’s stay at the camp, plaintiff was injured when riding a slide on the property. The camp asserted recreational use immunity as a defense to the claim. On summary judgment, the trial court ruled that the camp was not immune from liability under the statute because it normally charged fees for the recreational use. This interlocutory appeal was certified after the trial court found there was likely a substantial ground for difference of opinion. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed and held that recreational use immunity is not available under these circumstances because the property was not open to the general public. View "Cregan v. Fourth Mem'l Church" on Justia Law

Petitioner Charles Weber filed an untimely PRP asserting that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his attorney failed to conduct a reasonable investigation of the case and failed to explore the possibility that he had been misidentified as the perpetrator. Petitioner sought to avoid the procedural time bar by arguing that the actual innocence doctrine, recognized by this court in "In re Personal Restraint of Carter, (263 P.3d 1241 (2011)), be applied to allow review of his constitutional claim. Petitioner supported his innocence claim with new evidence in the form of declarations. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that Petitioner's new evidence was insufficient to show he was factually innocent. Accordingly, the Court dismissed his PRP. View "In re Pers. Restraint of Weber" on Justia Law

Plaintiff Automotive United Trades Organization brought suit against Washington State and its officials, challenging the constitutionality of disbursements the State gives to Indian tribes under fuel tax compacts. The trial court dismissed the amended complaint for failure to join indispensable parties, namely the Indian tribes party to the agreements, under CR 19. The Supreme Court reversed, holding the tribes were not indispensable parties under CR 19(b). Although the tribes are necessary parties under CR 19(a) whose joinder was not feasible due to tribal sovereign immunity, equitable considerations allowed this action to proceed in their absence. View "Auto. United Trades Org. v. Washington" on Justia Law

Richard J. Dyer was a convicted rapist who denied his guilt and was therefore ineligible for sex offender treatment. He was serving a maximum term of life in prison. Though Dyer had a history of good behavior while in prison, the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB) found Dyer unparolable for the sixth time and extended his minimum term another 60 months. In doing so, the ISRB considered Dyer's lack of sex offender treatment, along with additional evidence, and concluded he was not completely rehabilitated. Dyer filed a personal restraint petition (PRP) directly with this court, claiming the ISRB abused its discretion. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed the ISRB's decision. View "In re Pers. Restraint of Dyer" on Justia Law