Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 383814_pub.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 383814_pub.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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court denied Suarez’s motion and granted the School’s motion, dismissing all of Suarez’s

claims. Suarez appeals the superior court’s order granting the School’s motion for

summary judgment and dismissing her claims.

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No. 38381-4-III
Suarez v. State

ANALYSIS
1. ISSUES PRESERVED FOR APPEAL

As a preliminary matter, we must determine which issues Suarez has preserved for

appellate review. In her complaint, Suarez pleaded three statutory claims: adverse action,

retaliation, and failure to accommodate. She also pleaded a tort claim of termination in

violation of public policy. On appeal, the School argues that Suarez waived several of

her claims by failing to plead them in her complaint or argue them below.

In responding to the School’s motion to dismiss all of her claims on summary

judgment, Suarez argued there were sufficient factual issues to preserve two of her

claims: “Here, in the light most favorable to Suarez the Defendants discriminated against

Suarez by (1) failing to accommodate Suarez’s religious practice and (2) firing Suarez for

practicing her religion.” CP at 286-87. Within her briefing, Suarez challenged her

termination as only a violation of public policy. While the public policy that she claims

was violated is the WLAD, she did not argue that her termination was a direct statutory

violation. Nor did she raise any argument or facts on her retaliation claims. See CP at

281-92. The trial court dismissed all of Suarez’s claims on summary judgment.

On appeal, Suarez’s first issue is that the trial court erred in dismissing her

statutory claim of failure to accommodate her religious beliefs. In her second issue,